Posted by Rick Denney on May 06, 2002 at 01:31:20:
In Reply to: Re: Re: AIR and bouree posted by Dan Malcore on May 05, 2002 at 00:43:45:
It isn't just the size of the horn. I played Air and Bourree at 10th-grade solo contest (successfully from the standpoint that I got a first division) on a sousaphone.
Yes, this piece of music provides few obvious places to breath. That's partly what makes it a classic, because figuring out how and where to breath without upsetting the music is Job Number 1 for tuba players.
You might drop the overall dynamic. A 20J is loud by nature and you can probably play the whole Bach piece between pianissimo and mezzo-forte as perceived by you as you play.
Some will put pauses here and there in the music, at good phrasing points, but I don't much like that for Bach, which seems like it ought to be in pretty strict tempo. Williams Bell advocated taking very frequent nose breaths during the piece.
As for me, I'd rather leave out a relatively unimportant note altogether than break the phrase, and my sinuses don't open enough to take in appreciable air through my nose. You can breath in the middle of a phrase, but you can't let it upset the shape of the phrase--the direction has to go straight through the breath.
Rick "who thinks violists worry about when they change bow direction for the same reasons" Denney