Solo in Portrait of Charlie Chaplin - breathing

[RickF]

Our band director has put a familiar piece in our folders for next concert. It's "A Portrait of Charlie Chaplin", Charles Chaplin, S.J. Padilla, arr. by Takashi Hoshide. Our MD is director of Bravo Music so we get to play a lot of arrangements by Japanese composers / arrangers. This one is a very nice arrangement I think with a good euphonium part.

The example of a recording coming out of Japan is great! What I noticed is the euph soloist never breathes during the 9 measure solo or he/she is circular breathing. Our dir. is always harping on us not to breathe so often... especially on a bar line. When I need to breathe, I look for an end of a natural phrase - or just after a dotted quarter note, before an eighth note. It would be great if I could play this in one breath, but at age 70, it ain't gonna happen. My M5050 has a bore of .610 so it takes more air to begin with. Any suggestions?

Below is an image of the solo portion (starting just after letter 'C' and up to 'D'). It's marked Solo or Soli, but I don't think I'm hearing more than one voice... especially with a few 6th partials involved.

Below is a link to listen to an excerpt of this piece. Solo starts around 15 secs:
Excerpt - "A Portrait of Charlie Chaplin"

See attached solo image:

[MarChant]

If yoy really have to, you could breathe after the B natural in bar 34. In the excerpt it is played connected to the next line, but I believe it actually is the end of the first part of the musical sentence, so a short break to breathe should be fine. Just like a comma in a spoken sentence.

[RickF]

Thanks MarChant. That's exactly where I breathed for that solo years ago when we recorded it. I still have a penciled breath mark there on the original music.

[John Morgan]

I agree that breathing after the B natural in measure 34 would be a good place. After listening to the solo/soli, I also think you could breathe after either of the first quarter notes in measure 35 and 36. That passage would be impossible for me to play with authority (right dynamics and tempo) in one breath. I would either circular breathe, which works good in this range and note lengths, or take breaths as I described above. In fact, I might even take a breath after the dotted quarter note C in measure 38.

If your band director is a real stickler for playing the whole thing in one breath, then I have a few ideas:

1. Do it if you can, good luck, and don't pass out
2. Circular breathe or learn how to by next week
3. If you do breathe, fake out your band director and breathe through your nose real fast so he won't know or see that you breathed
4. If those all fail, hand your horn to your band director and ask him/her to play the passage in one breath

To me, when I see things that would be hard or nearly impossible to play in one breath, I just interpret the music musically and breathe where it makes sense and where it keeps the musical passage flowing as well as possible. I hear you, Rick, when your director says not to breathe over bar lines. Same in our band. There are other places, too, like when you crescendo into a measure, don't stop and take a breath before playing the note(s) you were crescendoing up to. Just need to use some smarts in breathing.

[davewerden]

In my prime when I was playing all the time I could have done it in one breath, but I don't think I could have sustained the necessary projection. Over the years I've learned a lot of ways to make my air last longer without hurting projection or phrase, but I THINK this one would have over-stretched me!

[RickF]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. We had rehearsal tonight and this was the first piece up. Even though the dr. took that portion at a bit brighter tempo, I still had to breathe twice... the B natural in m34, and then again after the dotted quarter note in m38. That last breath was sort of insurance so I could finish the last note without dying out. Part of the problem was the band was too loud and found myself really playing forte for some of it.

I love some of your suggestions John. I never could circlular breathe. I tried the trick years ago using a straw in a glass of water trying to blow bubbles - then continue blowing with puffed cheeks while trying to sneak a breath in with your nose. I almost drowned.

[adrian_quince]

Just listened to the recording. Taking it all in one breath ignores the structure of the line. The m. 33 beat 1 to m. 34 beat 2 is a sequence built on a quarter and two eighths, but m. 34 beat 3 and 4 do not continue the sequence despite having the same rhythm and ascending pitch profile. Clarity demands a breath between beats 3 and 4 to show the broken sequence.

[RickF]

Thanks for replying Adrian.

I don't think I'm going to worry about this. As our prior MD said many times, "the music needs to breathe too, but take a breath at the right time".

I just found the excerpt of our recording 5 years ago. I think it sounds okay. Maybe need more vibrato in a couple of places. (this was with my Yamaha 641). I took two breaths - one after B nat in 34, and again after beat 1 in 37... and the tempo was slower too.

A Portrait of Charlie Chaplin - solo excerpt

[adrian_quince]

I just found the excerpt of our recording 5 years ago. I think it sounds okay. Maybe need more vibrato in a couple of places. (this was with my Yamaha 641). I took two breaths - one after B nat in 34, and again after beat 1 in 37... and the tempo was slower too.

I don't know about needing more vibrato. I don't sense a ton of room in the line for it. I'd look at shaping the figures a little more by bringing out the top of the scales.

Listening to the recording, both breaths feel very natural. If anything, it would be great if the conductor would give you a little more space for the m. 34 breath.

[Snorlax]

Friends:
When all else fails, consider the lyrics:
Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you.

[John Morgan]

I just found the excerpt of our recording 5 years ago. I think it sounds okay. Maybe need more vibrato in a couple of places. (this was with my Yamaha 641). I took two breaths - one after B nat in 34, and again after beat 1 in 37... and the tempo was slower too.

A Portrait of Charlie Chaplin - solo excerpt

That is very nice, Rick, and nothing wrong at all in your breathing spots. I am going to ask our director to get this piece. I have never played it. Anyone know where to purchase and to listen in advance?

[RickF]

Thanks John.

I noticed I made a typo in my very first post and misspelled the arranger's name. It should have been 'Hoshide' with an 'h' (now corrected). But even with that correct, I can't find it searching the web. Most of these arrangements are by "Brain-music" or... Bravo Music. I've emailed our Dir to see if it's available in the USA. It's about 6 minutes long.

One of my responsibilities for our band is to host or provide what we call 'listening files' so band members can play along to some good recordings with their instrument. These are only available for about 1 month until we play the concert. Then I take them down from my box.com acct. Since we only rehearse once per week, this helps individual players in rehearsing their part. They can plug in their ear buds and smart phone and play along.

[John Morgan]

This sounds like it would be a GREAT piece for band. I haven't heard or played it (obviously) before. I am really going to try and find it. Any help would be appreciated by anyone who may know where to purchase it. I bet the audiences, especially older audiences, really like this piece.

We do the same thing as far as recordings for the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra. We call them educational files. Pretty handy for those that might not know the music.

Snorlax posted the lyrics to Smile. That is an excellent way to study tunes that have lyrics in all cases. I frequently listen to the lyrics to get the feel for the music. Nat King Cole, the master balladeer, made this song famous. And I think Michael Jackson had a pretty good version of it as well. If you listen to Nat, there are breaths after about every two bars, my kind of breather!!

[RickF]

Hi John. I sent you a PM or two.

[booboo]

Are you on your own? If you have another Euph player you should be able to pick a a spot (usually lower in pitch and away from a rhythmic accent) where the second Euph can 'dovetail' or 'patch' a bar while you breath. Failing that, as snorlax said go back to the lyrics. Say/sing them a few times and trust your judgement. I think getting through in a breath may be possible, but not worth the compromise in sound quality/projection. Are there any YouTube clips? - I'd imagine a (tenor?) vocalist will have had to address the same problems.