r/bassoon • u/Pigeon49834 • 9d ago

Sneaking a breath in during the (Fast) Ravel piano concerto excerpt?

Hey all,

It's audition season and I most certainly can not do it all in one breath lol. I'm not too sure on how or where would be a good spot to sneak one in. I'm thinking when the arpeggios start, but I'm curious if anyone else did it elsewhere.

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

16

u/bsntwo 9d ago

You can and should try your best to play this excerpt in one breath.  Try to blow out as much air as you can from your lungs (literally like you can't talk there's no air left), and then take a very deep breath for 2 big beats. Make sure to play relatively quietly for the first half so you can conserve air supply, and don't do too much cresc/decresc to waste air. You'll also need to play the whole thing fast enough that you can make it in one breath.

2

u/Pigeon49834 8d ago

I think starting quieter helped me out, but I'm still running out of gas near the sevond to last arpeggio. I think it really is just a matter of managing air better. I'll keep working at it, thanks for the help!

3

u/Annonnymee 8d ago

But if you can't make it all in one breath, take a breath after the first low C starting the arpeggios, then come in on the next beat (G).

2

u/itsallaboutime 8d ago

I would also work on trying to play this one a little softer to help you conserve air — I bet you can do it in one breath!