General Tuba-Euphonium Blog

I have discussed this now and then in master classes and clinics. An excellent way for euphonium and tuba players to enhance their ensemble skills is by forming or joining a euphonium-tuba quartet. You will develop your listening ability for rhythm, ensemble, intonation, blend, and balance. And you will enjoy making music in a group with a beautiful sound!



There is already a great deal of music written for such ensembles. I have a list of my arrangements on this site at:
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When cleaning your horn or if you are having trouble with your valves, consider a good valve clearning. Obviously, you want to literally clean the valve carefully, including the passages the air travels through. You must also pay attention to the bottom of the valve and brush it out.

The next step is to take a mild metal polish and polish the valve surface. Often this surface can get rough in places because of a buildup of various deposits. The polish will clean this and make the surface ...

Yesterday an interesting article was published in the New York Times online:





http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/arts/music/21waki.html?th&emc=th





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If you have noticed your sound has gotten fuzzier recently, one possible cause is a mouthpiece that has become really dirty in the critical BORE area. Hold your mouthpiece up to the light so you are looking into the small end. The inside from the end nearest you to the bowl of the mouthpiece should be very smooth looking. If not, you need to clean it out. The easiest way is with a mouthpiece brush made for the purpose. It is long and tapered so it fits in nicely from the small end of the mouthpiece. ...

They were made to give the euphonium more versatility, so you could better match the trombones, horns, etc. or to give a lighter sound when playing with bassoons, etc. Soloists use(d) the extra bell for special effects, such as echoes.

The last valve on the horn (either 4 or 5) was used to switch the sound from one bell to the other -- both could not play at the same time. On better horns, the playing qualities were pretty good with the large bell, and not bad with the small one. Each ...

Originally posted on the TUBA Discussion List several years ago, by "Klaus":

Boosey, Besson, and Hawkes merged under the same umbrella with Boosey & Hawkes as the company name.

When I entered the world of brass in 1960 there were still 2 set of brand names:

• B&H had Imperial engraved on their top line (stamped Class A) and Regent engraved on their second line (stamped Class B).
• Besson had New Standard engraved on their top line (Class A) and Westminster on their

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A new link was added to the links area (go to dwerden.com/links and select Music General --> Resources). The site is called Find a Song and it lets you enter notes from a song on a graphic piano keyboard or by entering sequence codes. You can even whistle the tune if you have a computer microphone.

This message was posted by Gus Pratt on the Onelist TUBAEUPH discussion list several years ago. It is still a good discussion.

When tuning the valves the most critical thing is that you think about whats going on with the horn from a techincal aspect. If you tune the first valve first, then when you adjust your main tuning slide the note you tuned with the first valve is now out. Here's the order that I would use, some of which will need a tuner.

1. Tune to concert Bb

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