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davewerden

  1. Thank you, Fred Marrich

    The low brass world lost a great friend in late 2008. The owner of Custom Music Company, Fred Marrich, passed away after a long and productive life. With Fred's backing, some well-known low brass manufacturers (they are well-known today, anyway) were encouraged and assisted in developing a really professional line of instruments. The financial backing he provided was probably not a good investment by a strictly "business" standard (which today usually means a fairly quick return), but with the imagination ...
  2. New Tuba and Euphonium Videos

    I have added many new videos recently to both the euphonium and the tuba video players on my site.


    Below is a little pick-up group, including David Childs. This any many other new videos (including 7 by Steven Mead and 3 by Trevor Groom, who performs the Horovitz Concerto written for him), all available on the Euphonium Videos Page:





    Here is one of the new videos from the Tuba Video Collection. It features some find playing by Steve Sykes: ...
  3. Inaugural History and the Faith of Our Fathers

    As we get ready for today's inauguration ceremonies, one has to wonder what the unique tone of this one will be. Certainly a celebration of our first black President. Certainly a celebration of our way of peacefully passing power with each new President. And there will be a prayer or two, which is likely to be where at least some of the discussion will center. The original words our Constitution specified for swearing in our President did not include the ending, "so help me God." That was added ...
  4. Do You Twitter? I Do.

    I have recently joined the Twitter community. It's somewhat experimental for me because I'm not sure how well it fits in the low brass world, but if you are into that, find me at:


    davewerden on Twitter


    I'll try to "Twit" now and then so it doesn't get too boring!
  5. Review: Heritage 4AL and 4ABL Mouthpieces

    I am just finishing a very enlightening test of two new mouthpieces from the Denis Wick Heritage series: the 4AL and 4ABL. My regular mouthpiece is a "classic" Wick 4AL, and according to my measurements, the Heritage 4AL maintains the same dimensions within the accuracy of my digital caliper. The comparison between my mouthpiece and the Heritage of the same size proved (in case there was any doubt) that the distribution of mass on a mouthpiece makes an easily noticeable difference.

    ...

    Updated 11-23-2021 at 06:51 PM by davewerden

    Categories
    Euphonium-Tuba Blog , General Tuba-Euphonium Blog , Reviews
  6. New Article by Arthur Lehman: The British Euphonium Sound

    Legendary euphoniumist (and prolific author!) Arthur Lehman has just written a few thoughts about the British euphonium sound that we all talk about so much. Here is an excerpt:


    It just occurred to me today. When I listened to music off a new CD I'd just acquired, of the Salvation Army's International Staff Band from England, that for years when I have written many articles, I have unintentionally overlooked the English euphonium players. When I would, for instance, say something ...
  7. Heredity and Embouchures

    Brass players often ponder embouchures because the way our chops do their work is so critical to the results we get out of the horn. When I was as undergrad the trend was to try to get all players to fit a specific model - slight "frown" at the corners, mouthpiece pointed downward somewhat. I had to negotiate a bit with my instructor because my teeth do not have the more common overbite, but rather have a more-or-less even bite (the top teeth are roughly even with the bottom teeth). It was impossible ...