I see you were the only unicyclist listed in the race results Steve:
http://blackflychallenge.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/black-fly-overall-results-2010.pdf
Way to go! look forward to the write-up.
289/319 Congratulations! And you were the only unicyclist, avereging 10mph.
Some of the bikers didn’t even finish.
What setup were you riding?
English folk harmonica (1st position, diatonic) and Anglo concertina. (I have two: G/D and a lovely Jeffries B flat/F.) I used to be able to knock a tune out of a melodeon, and still occasionally squeeze the one row. Years ago, I played trumpet/cornet, but not too well. Anglo concertina is definitely the instrument for me.
This isn’t me, but it shows what an Anglo can do:
Thanks. I’ll put the set-up over in the Black Fly thread.
wrong thread i think steveyo
I can play Guitar, Bass… I dont really play music, I just play in my classes at school.
How’s the circular breathing coming along?
With the FIFA 2010 World Cup having just started in South Africa, a lot of us are playing the VUVUZELA:
as well as new kid on the block, the “kuduzela”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FffNI9EJFMI
The kuduzela has a deeper note and a warmer sound than the vuvuzela.
we used to have a mounted kudo on our wall, twas imposing
i play bass in a band and can do keys,but put simply if it has keys or strings give me an hour and ill be able to play it
my preferred instrument is fingerstyle guitar
OOps I forgot my try at AlpenHorn!
Circular Breathing is difficult for me…that makes it a challenge. Bit like the challenge of learning ‘balance’ on the unicycle I think. I like the simplicity of the digeridoo and similarity of this to the ‘simplicity’ of the unicycle. Also they both take a learning curve to master.
It doesnt look like the kuduzela and the vuvuzela use circular breathing - players just blast at them?
You can circular breathe on them, which rather freaks out the people who only ever ‘blasted’ on them.
Once you get the circular breath going, you can use all the mouth-, tongue- and humming tricks you use on the didgeridoo to make some strange and entertaining sounds.
Do you know the straw-in-a-glas-of-water way of learning the circular breath?
It occurs to me that you know about circular breathing? maybe you have some advice to offer. Don’t know of the straw method but willing to give it a go.
It’s one of the quickest ways of ‘getting’ the basic mechanics of it.
After that, it’s just a question of practise to be able to apply the principle to your chosen instrument.
Take a drinking straw and put one end in a glas of water (half full).
Start blowing bubbles thru the water.
Focus on blowing from your diaphragm (or straight from your lungs, if that makes more sense).
Then try n blow from your cheeks only.
While blowing from your cheeks, you’ll find that you can, rather easily, breath in thru your nose.
By now shifting your blowing from your cheeks back to your lungs, you’ve completed one cycle of ‘circular breathing’.
The trick is to get those transitions from lungs to cheeks and cheeks to lungs to sound as smooth as possible.
Practise wil also help you to keep a comparable tone while blowing from your lungs and blowing from your cheeks so that the changes aren’t obvious.
Cheek-blowing tends to be more forced, therefore producing a slightly higher tone.
Practise, practise, practise.
One other thought to keep in mind is to make sure that you breathe regularly and not switch to your cheeks when you’re almost ‘desperate’ for air.
Keep it regular and smooth.
As you get ready for the transition, slowly siphon off some air to fill your cheeks.
Something that works for me is to build up the back-pressure in the didgeridoo before beginning this process.
Simply blow a couple of quick breaths down the pipe, don’t bother to make it sound great or anything.
I have no idea how much science is behind it, but it feels easier to control the circular breathing once you’ve “built up the back-pressure” in the pipe.
Let me know how you go?
probably already posted …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzBvNVNEo3U&feature=player_embedded
my “student” brassband last sunday (well we were “students” a long time ago), I’m the guy with the flugelhorn :
+10
whats a flugelhorn?
Oh yeah, i cant play anything!
I’m a drummer. I find the 4 limb independence more challenging than juggling 3 clubs while unicycling, which I do for an hour and 6-8 miles.
I just joined a jazz ensemble class.
Billy
You go, Bill.