I spent three days doing nothing but practising breathing. And now I never run out of air

THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW

- Sharon Bezaly

The waiter looks puzzled. It’s understandable – a woman blowing bubbles into a glass of mineral water is not something one usually encounters in an up-market London restaurant. ‘Can I get you anything?’ he asks politely. ‘Could we have another straw?’ I say. He obliges, bewildered, as I copy my dining companion, gently pushing air into the water with much concentration. ‘It’s like riding a bike; you know it can be done but initially it seems impossible,’ encourages Sharon Bezaly. The Israeli flautist is demonstrating circular breathing, an elusive art that provides woodwind players with constant puff, eliminating any interruption to musical lines. ‘I learned it from my teacher Aurèle Nicolet – I used to watch his nostrils get wider when he played. I was stubborn; I was determined to do it. I spent three days doing nothing but practising breathing. And now I never run out of air.’