Tuba-Euphonium Blog
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Euphonium and Tuba, General Music, DWerden.com, TubaEuph.comen-usFri, 09 May 2008 16:31:37 GMTTue, 06 May 2008 00:08:38 GMTCF Blogger by DayDream Inchttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssinfo@dwerden.cominfo@dwerden.comIt's Good to Have a Strong Embouchure
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I use trumpet player Doc Severinsen as an example fairly often when I teach or talk about music. One of the reasons is that he epitomizes the way a brass player's embouchure should work. This has been proven true by the fact that he only retired from a busy and successful performance schedule last year at the age of 79. He was still playing with his huge sound and solid high register, which takes a well-developed embouchure.The video below is one of Dick Clark's specials featuring an "all-star" band. There are many brief shots of many players. (Trivia: one of the examples is Frankie Avalon, known as a pop song composer and actor, but here heard as a trumpet player.) This particular video features Chuck Berry with all his showmanship. He and Doc Severinsen are both featured for a long segment on center stage and do a little interplay. At just about 5:56 on the video, Berry's guitar accidentally hits Doc in the head while Doc is playing. Doc shakes it off after a few seconds and goes right on just as strong as before. It's just one of those things that can happen during live stage antics, but someone with a weak embouchure who is playing at the ragged edge of his chops' ability is likely to suffer a bit more.Enjoy the video!VideosTue, 06 May 2008 00:08:38 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=BB8EF519-1372-FAF9-2271E8853FBF70B9Bass Trumpet in Action
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Here is a new video of trombonist Dirk Amrein performing a movement of Mozart's horn concerto on a bass trumpet. The instrument he uses is more in the European style, which uses rotary valves and is configured in a horizontal manner. Companies like Bach also make bass trumpets, but they look more like a traditional American trumpet and use piston valves. This instrument usually has a tenor-trombone-size mouthpiece shank.The same video is also found among the collection of euphonium or euphonium-related videos here:Euphonium VideosVideosSun, 04 May 2008 00:49:28 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=B1679E34-1372-FAF9-2290850A897EE06DForum Is Online and Running Smoothly
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Regular visitors will already know that the Euphonium-Tuba Discussion Forum was not fully operational for a couple weeks. Registered users were not able to log in or post messages.The forum is back now and working fine. To thank you for your patience I have added 3 new MP3 selections to the Downloads for Members Only section. Check them out!Tuba-Euphonium Site NewsFri, 02 May 2008 23:57:11 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=AC1165DB-1372-FAF9-222DB5A8C109ABFFU.S. Marine Band Performing Sousa Overture
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Here is our newest featured recording, this time from The United States Marine Band. John Philip Sousa is known as "The March King" in the USA, but he also composed other types of music. Here is the Marine Band performing Sousa's Overture to the American Maid. This is from a live performance from November 15, 2004, as part of the Marine Band National Concert Tour.Free Downloads - Recordings and MusicTue, 29 Apr 2008 12:11:51 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=9A18908A-1372-FAF9-22CFFB4FDD83DCCFCell Phones Have an OFF Button
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How many times have you observed someone who is not very considerate about the cell phone? Sometimes you will hear ringers going off in church, at the movies, or even in a concert. Now and then the person will answer and talk on the phone during times that should be reserved for other things. I think most of us are bothered by this but do not do anything about it.Suppose you are in a musical group in the middle of a performance when someone starts talking on their phone. Suppose you and the group decide not to let it pass this time. See the video below.VideosThu, 24 Apr 2008 12:19:59 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=806036CC-1372-FAF9-221B99CB2DA44BD2IMDB - Still My Favorite Internet Site
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I LOVE movie music! Writing for the movies is a sophisticated art form these days. In the earliest days of movies, before they had sound, it was up to the theater's pianist to come up with appropriate background music to fit the action on the screen. As "talkies" became a reality, composers were hired to come up with the recorded soundtracks. At first there was substantial content from existing classical music. When I was growing up the TV Western series "The Lone Ranger" was how many people came to be familiar with the William Tell Overture.But even in the old days of movies, some very fine composers wrote soundtracks. One of the earliest was Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who did the music for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Captain Blood (1935) among many others. Before he left Europe for Hollywood, he was considered a rising classical star who was destined to become the next Mahler. Many other movie composers have serious roots in classical music training.But back to my main point: the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). This site is a reference for movies. Within the listings for each movie are hyperlinks to all the actors, music writers and orchestrators, directors, etc. involved in the movie. So if you hear a soundtrack behind a movie and really like the music, look up the movie on IMDB. If you click on "Full Cast and Crew" and scoll down the page you can usually fine a listing for Original Music By. Click on the composer's name to see a biography and a complete list of other movies that use his/her music.While you are looking at the movie listing, you can find links to trivia (often very fun), reviews, soundtrack, and many other interesting pieces.It's an amazing resource and has been around for many years. Check it out and see what I mean:Internet Movie Database (IMDB)General InterestWed, 23 Apr 2008 13:30:44 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=7B7AA2D2-1372-FAF9-221F111ABE2BF451Studying Music Improves Your Mind
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There have been several studies that come to the same conclusion: when children take music lessons, their minds improve in several ways compared to children who do not study music. Memory is enhanced and math abilities are especially improved.The studies agree that these improvements take place after only a few months of study. The longer the student studies music, the greater is the effect.From my own experience I have inferred that this is true. As regular readers know, my "day job" is as a computer programmer. When I was leaving The Coast Guard Band and seeking a job as a programmer, I checked with some people I knew in the Midwest and got some contacts. At the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, for example, I learned that computer recruiters had specifically approached music students to entice them into the wacky world of computer programming. They knew that musicians have skills that make them better programmers. I found several other examples of this generally-accepted fact over the years, starting back in the middle 1970's.One study shows that children's ability to put together puzzles improve. They said:"The term they give to the type of reasoning and thought that goes into putting pieces of a puzzle together is called abstract reasoning. By teaching music, people exercise the same abstract reasoning skills that they use for doing math or some other exercise in which the people have to visualize in their head."(reversespins.com/effectsofmusic.html)Another study showed:"After one year the musically trained children performed better in a memory test correlated with general intelligence skills, such as literacy, verbal memory and mathematics."At the same time they found there was greater improvement in tasks involving melody, harmony and rhythm processing in the children studying music compared to those not studying it. The first improvements came to light after just four months."(education.guardian.co.uk/artinschools/story/0,,1876821,00.html)See also:childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/musicopensmind.htmlbyui.edu/kbyi/wtm/southflorida.com/sfparenting/sfe-sfp-music0504,0,5116441.storysciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070312152003.htmspecialneedseducation.suite101.com/article.cfm/music_helps_children_with_dyslexiaSo get your kids to a music teacher before it's too late!!General InterestTue, 15 Apr 2008 12:19:54 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=5206E940-1372-FAF9-22F579D342BC3EC0Where Are the Jazz Euphonium Players?
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I just learned that this year's ITEC has canceled its jazz competition because of a lack of qualified applicants. I'm not quite sure why that is, especially for euphonium players. Of course, not all of us have the instinct to do a proper job of playing jazz, but there have to be a large number of folks who could do this but have not chosen to.For euphoniumists, there is a long-standing lament about the lack of paying gigs in the USA (aside from our service bands). Certainly there are opportunities to perform in community bands, brass bands, and small chamber groups. But most of those are not going to earn you any money.However, for a good jazz musician, there are gigs where you can make some money. I realize that money isn't everything, but there are other benefits of playing jazz. For one thing, it's fun!So what's the problem? Perhaps many of us are afraid to get up in front of a school jazz ensemble and (possibly) play a random collection of nonsense notes. Having grown up shy I can certainly understand that. But there are ways to become acquainted with jazz in the comfort of your basement: music minus one recordings/music. These often have some instructions on how to play jazz and provide you with an accompaniment you can play along with. That gives you ample changes to hone your skills before you attempt a jazz ensemble rehearsal.Here are several of the resources available:Music Minus One Trombone/EuphoniumIf you would like to hear euphonium in a jazz setting, look at this section of my forum (you have to be logged in to see this section):Downloads for Members Onlyand look for Marc Dickman.So let's have some of you readers step up and give it a try!General Tuba-Euphonium BlogThu, 10 Apr 2008 18:41:57 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=39A4E35E-1372-FAF9-222DFBDC9912A6A0Music Appreciation 101:8 - It's Not the Horn. Whistlers.
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Subtitle: How Much Did You Spend on Your Instrument?The purpose of this chapter is to show that music must come from within you. Many players get so focused on the difficulties of playing their horn that they don't manage to get their musical feeling out the bell.We have already looked at the ocarina and harmonica, either of which can be obtained for very little money. Now let's look at a no-cost medium: whistling.There are some very high-level whistlers in the musical world. Having only their mouth and wind, they can make beautiful music. There are a couple examples you may already know. If you watch the old Andy Griffith show (in syndication), you may have noticed the theme song is whistled. In this case, the performance is by the soundtrack composer, Earl Hagen. An earlier example is the theme to the movie "The High and Mighty," an Academy-Award-winning movie. In this soundtrack the main theme was whistled by Muzzy Marcellino, who is the whistler on several other soundtracks as well: IMDB Listing for Muzzy Marcellino.(See the Amazon aStore for more.)Below are some examples of whistlers in classical and jazz style.Nice rendition of Danny Boy, whether you are whistling or playing:A man who whistles through his hands:Music AppreciationSun, 06 Apr 2008 22:23:01 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=25D5D80B-1372-FAF9-22214D39D9BC78B1Music Appreciation 101:8 - It's Not the Horn. The Harmonica
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Subtitle: How Much Did You Spend on Your Instrument?The purpose of this chapter is to show that music must come from within you. Many players get so focused on the difficulties of playing their horn that they don't manage to get their musical feeling out the bell.This chapter examines the harmonica. Here I am not pointing to examples of folk harmonica (no Bob Dylan here), but rather classical or jazz.Harmonicas are capable of a wide range of expression. Vibrato is flexible, they can bend notes, and the player can use hand position to affect the color of the tone. A famous virtuoso is Larry Adler, who ventured in classical, pop, and jazz (and commissioned classical pieces). Toots Thielemans is also widely known as a jazz artist and composer.This chapter is supported on the Amazon aStore:Harmonica ArtistsAnd there are several examples below from YouTube that you can enjoy for free.Nice Classical Example:Nice Strauss Arrangement by Larry Adler:Wow! Larry Adler and Itzhak Perlman Play Gershwin:Well, OK... Maybe ONE Folk Example:Music AppreciationThu, 03 Apr 2008 21:40:28 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=163BCE41-1372-FAF9-2279D7DE47A8FCAAMusic Appreciation 101:8 - It's Not the Horn. The Ocarina
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Subtitle: How Much Did You Spend on Your Instrument?The purpose of this chapter is to show that music must come from within you. Many players get so focused on the difficulties of playing their horn that they don't manage to get their musical feeling out the bell.The first in this series will demonstrate a virtuoso performance on the ocarina. It is a hollow body with a mouthpipe to blow into. There are a series of tone holes on the instrument. A very simple type is called the "potato whistle." I remember somewhere around 1963 hearing a performer on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour doing a great jazz rendition of "I Found a New Baby." His performance had all the style and inflection you would expect from a good jazz clarinetist, for example.The video below shows a Korean performer doing Monti's Czardas on (what I think is) a 12-hole ocarina. Just listen to the style and musicality he gets out of this simple instrument.Music AppreciationWed, 02 Apr 2008 22:19:55 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=11399145-1372-FAF9-229F9654E8333DE6Help for Left-Handed Euphonium Players
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The wait is over. A major manufacturer has finally begun to design products for players who are left handed. The first such example is based on the popular Wick/Mead SM3 mouthpiece, shown below in its standard form:Standard Right-Hand ModelOf course, the smooth other surface and tapered shape may have been difficult for left-handers to pick up and handle, but that has now been solved with the SM3-LH:New Left-Hand ModelWick engineers were able to exploit the years of data they gathered by driving on the left side of the road as the optimized this new design. As with any new line, there is a price boost of about 75%.General Tuba-Euphonium BlogTue, 01 Apr 2008 14:50:22 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=0A77A15B-1372-FAF9-22F426AA8E7BFB6CA Great Way to Clean Out Your Horn
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I have finally found a really good cleaning swap for my compensating euphonium! Every brass player knows it can be hard to get the inside of the horn swabbed out. The traditional swap has a coiled metal "snake" with a pad or brush on each end. You need to run it through the tubes to clean them inside. However, the metal can scratch the horn if you are not careful and the pads or brushes don't do a very good job of cleaning. Worst of all, the thing gets caught in the horn sometimes and can actually break off (trust me - I know - many times over).HW To The Rescue!I just purchased a set of HW cleaning brushes. They are different from anything I have used before and do a great job. The design is different in some important ways. First, the "snake" is made of plastic with a special backing on one side to help it slide through more easily. The brush part is only on one end. The idea is to thread the plastic end through and then pull the brush end after it. The brush part itself is made of fibers of varying stiffness so you get a lot of gentle brushing plus a little more strength to help clean out tougher deposits. The fibers feel different from any I have had and do a very fine job with just one pass (although I usually do a few passes to make sure).The "Baritone" version (really meant for a euphonium bore) comes with a second hard-handled brush to clean the straight tubes if you want. It has a slightly different brush on each end. I didn't find it necessary for the main tubing, but it is nice for the valve casings.Because a compensating has so many small curved passages, I found it useful to get a small-trombone swab as well. It goes through much easier in those really tight corners and still does the job of cleaning. This one doesn't come with the stiff swab.I think we all know that a horn that is clean inside will play better. But we may tend to put off cleaning it because it can be difficult. This invention makes the job much easier - maybe I'll even clean my horn as often as I should now!All the brushes are available in the Instruments/Maintenance section of my aStore:Euphonium/Tuba MaintenanceThe photo below shows the trombone and euphonium cleaners, along with the 1st valve slide from my euphonium to give an idea of the size:General Tuba-Euphonium BlogSun, 23 Mar 2008 01:04:15 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=D92A0EFC-1372-FAF9-22610DD3642AAB0FNight in the Tropics - Orchestra Piece with Euphonium
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently played a series of eight concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra. Any of you who have heard the orchestra perform know that it is a truly fine group. But what might be hard to tell from listening is that they are nice folks who seem to genuinely like each other. Several pieces on the concert did not use full orchestra so I had some time to hobnob with many players. It's a wonderful group to work with, and I was reminded again how lucky we are to have them here in the Twin Cities.The reason they hired me is that one of the pieces needed a euphonium player (the part was labeled "Baritone" by Boosey & Hawkes, the publisher). It was "Night in the Tropics" by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. This makes the first time I have seen the part for this nice, Latin-flavored piece. In all the euphonium excerpt lists and books that I have, this piece was absent.There appear to be discrepancies between two different publications of this piece because I have two recordings that both contain different rhythms from the parts we used. The two examples show the different rhythms. I have kept the notes all on one pitch, although the actual line occurs several times, each time in an arch shape, with the first 16th note being the highest.So what does one do when he gets a part that is different from the recording? It wasn't possible for me to call the orchestra library to ask because I was working on this over a weekend. So I simply prepared the part with both rhythms. Once I got to the rehearsal I just checked some of the other brass parts and found that my printed rhythm was consistent with them.The piece's instrumentation is standard orchestra plus baritone saxophone and euphonium. Tonalities are all familiar, but there are some clever rhythms in some of the other parts, almost sounding as though there are players in other meters.There are two recordings available for immediate download, as well as a couple of CD's that include this work. Even though the recording I listened to ahead of the gig did not include the euphonium part, it was very helpful to get a "feel" for the piece and to write in a few cues to help me count long stretches of rest.Amazon aStoreGeneral Tuba-Euphonium BlogTue, 18 Mar 2008 19:02:30 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=C3456DC8-1372-FAF9-22F5DD6A4996E116Backstage at the Minnesota Orchestra
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Once again I had the opportunity to perform with the Minnesota Orchestra this week. I'll discuss more about the musical side in a future post, but I noticed a few interesting bits of trivia while I was there.First, as an electronics hobbyist (in my past), I found this really unusual electronic tuner for instruments. It is of the type that sounds one of 12 tones for the player to match. It appears to have a fine-tuning control.The next interesting backstage was the mute collection. There was a future-eBay-treasure trumpet mute that actually was made from a Coca-Cola can:And musicians being socially conscious, they naturally would think about such "green" transportation as a bicycle. But how do you secure you bike outside? Certainly not on a standard, ladder-shaped bike rack. The one below was made for this building by one of the orchestra's partons who happens to be a metal worker:(This bike rack is obviously not intended for the lower instruments, who would want a bass clef.)General InterestSun, 16 Mar 2008 02:23:58 GMThttp://www.dwerden.com/blog3/display_blog.cfm?bid=B56686EB-1372-FAF9-22EB36AD0A7FFB6A