Saxophonist extraordinaire Kenny G set a Guinness World Record back in 1997 for the longest note ever held on a saxophone when he held an E-flat for 45 minutes, and now he’s gearing up to go even longer.
“I have a plan to break the record,” the musician told HuffPost Live on Friday. “I’m not going to tell you exactly what it is, but I’m going to try to partner with a particular airline, and we’re going to do it on one of their flights that lasts over an hour. I’m going to try to hold a note for the whole flight. So I’ll sit in the back and I’ll hold the note, and they’ll take off and hopefully I can hold the note all the way through takeoff to landing.”
Kenny is able to continuously blow into the saxophone for so long using a technique called circular breathing, which allows him to simultaneously take in air through his nose and expel it through his mouth. He demonstrated the trick during his conversation with HuffPost Live, and you can watch him illustrate it in the video above.
He added that he’s hoping to add a philanthropic spin to his record-breaking feat. He plans to ask businesses to donate money for every minute he can successfully hold the note, with the proceeds supporting music education in schools.
“If I hold it for an hour, maybe I could raise a couple hundred grand, depending on how many businesses came in … and then I’m really motivated and we just raise a whole bunch of money for a great cause,” he said.
That motivation may be important, as Kenny admitted the last time he set the record his hand was severely cramped after pressing down the key for so long. But it only took a short time to recover and return to form.
“I iced my lips for a couple of hours and I was ready to go again,” he said.
Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with Kenny G here.
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