h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I play tin whistle, and many tunes were originally written for fiddlers who don't need to worry about when to breathe. This means there aren't any suitable breathing points in the tunes, so I'm practising circular breathing. I'm at stage 3 and I can use my tongue to force air out (I hold my breath to make sure I'm not breathing the air out). However, I don't know how to bring my cheeks into operation. As I need to 'tongue' the notes, just using my tongue to force air out may not be practical - I haven't actually tried it yet.

Can you give me some tips or suggest some other exercises so that I can practise using my cheeks?

It's OK, I've got the cheek thing sorted. Now how about some hints to help me breathe in while 'blowing' out!

i'm a didge player of many years and i can circular breath relatively well by my standards. I have experimented in the past with circular breathing when playing the tin whistle, but i find it too difficult to produce a regular airflow, especially when changing from using my lungs to using my cheeks, and i tend to get nast overstressed notes and they all end up joined together. Is it even possible?

Maybe I (we?) just need to practise more. At the moment I'm still on the 'straw in a glass of water' stage. I can sort of breathe in while expelling air with my cheeks but, as you say, am having difficulty changing from lungs to cheeks to get a continuous flow of air. I'll just have to keep trying!