davewerden

I suspect most of you who read this blog already know who Arthur Lehman was. In case you don't, he was euphonium soloist with The United States Marine Band and author of the book and recording "The Art of Euphonium." And Simone Mantia was perhaps the first euphonium who became a world legend. He performed as soloist with the Sousa Band.


Arthur Lehman wrote several monographs in 2008. In one he wrote about his memories of Simone Mantia and what he learned from this amazing euphonium ...

Most of us know John Philip Sousa as America's March King, and rightly so! But Sousa also wrote many other works. When I was in the Coast Guard Band we would occasionally perform one of his suites. There were typically enjoyable and sometimes had themes that were familiar from his marches.


I recently discovered a reverie that Sousa wrote called Nymphalin. It has a pretty melody, and it struck me that it would work well in a recital or perhaps in a worship service. I arranged ...

I have been very pleased with the steadily improving musicianship and technical prowess I observe in the best of the current crop of players. It's not too surprising, I suppose, because students have much-improved access to professional performances they can use as inspiration. But maybe we could think a little more about our presentation as a whole, specifically the "visuals" of the performance.


Some groups have done noteworthy (no pun intended) work here. If you have seen a ...