During my Feb. 10, 2013 recital at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, I wanted to introduce a change of pace from standard literature. Ever since I saw the movie "Beauty and the Beast" I have been a big fan of the title song, and also taken by Angela Lansbury's performance. It was late in Ms. Lansbury's career and her voice had a relaxed, but authoritative, quality. She was singing in the most natural part of her range, which was somewhat low. It seemed a perfect fit for presentation on euphonium, ...
Many of the visitors to my site are members of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association (ITEA), and many are not. Either group of people may be unaware of a terrific resource available to ITEA members. ITEA members can go to iteaonline.org and click the History link, after which you see a link to the Oral History section of their website. In this section you find transcripts of interviews with tuba and euphonium players who are well-know in our community. This is a great way to ...
One of my favorite solos of the late Rafael Mendez is "Chiapanecas". I first heard it in high school. He actually recorded two versions, one with his 2 sons as a trio and one as a solo. During the concert March 10 with Oystein Baadsvik I had the chance to perform a solo. There was little time to prepare, and I wanted to choose something different in nature to what I anticipated Oystein would play, so Chiapanecas came to mind. Here is the video of the solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omo9FpxRvTY
My duet performance with Oystein Baadsvik is now on my videos page. This is from March 10, 2013, in Woodbury, Minnesota, and was part of the Baadsvik concert presented by Minne-Brass. This piece is with euphonium, tuba, and piano. The arrangement is available from Cimarron Music Press. Oystein Baadsvik and David Werden, Bach Aria-Duet The arrangement is also available for band (a small wind ensemble from a regular concert band).
This is a video from my recent recital at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. The song is from the original version of the movie Dr. Dolittle, and was sung by Rex Harrison for the movie. Performing with me on this video is Dr. Barbara Young. When I Look In Your Eyes
I just released a new video on YouTube. This is what I used for an encore on my Feb. 2013 recital at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. It's played from the sheet music for "Yakety Sax," which was a #1 hit by tenor saxophonist Boots Randolph, and was later used extensively on "The Benny Hill Show." For a euphonium player it is an unusual challenge. First there is the style in general. While Boots Randolph played very short, "slap-tongued" notes (I think that is the proper definition), ...
For a very long time Besson (or Boosey & Hawkes) made the "gold standard" for euphoniums. Until 1974, Besson used a medium-sized receiver for the mouthpiece. This is midway in size between the small (tenor-trombone-size) mouthpiece shank and the large (bass-trombone-size) shank. It is sometimes called the "European euphonium" shank. As far as I know, trombones never used that size. Today, most makers of gold-standard euphoniums, and many makers of student-level euphoniums, use a bass-trombone-size ...
I just had my third opportunity to play on A Prairie Home Companion, the national radio show that originates very near where I live. This was the third appearance of the "Midwinter Tuba Quintet," which was formed in 1997 expressly for this show. The members who just performed are: Euphoniums: Tom Ashworth, Dave Werden Tubas: Nick Adragna, Mike Forbes, Ralph Hepola Here are two features where the group can be heard. The first is "Tuba Blues," an original composition ...