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  1. Elision: Caught in the Middle

    In my previous house I saw starlings in my yard now and then. According to Wikipedia, these are "...small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae." At the time I didn't know what to call them, but I saw them all the time. Later I learned they were "starlings."


    The same is true with "Elision." This is (among other things) a musical term, and it refers to a note that is shared as the last note of one phrase and the first note of the next phrase. For a piece written ...
  2. Dealing with a Dry Mouth During Performances

    This is a reprint from an answer I posted on the Euphonium-Tuba Forum. I think it is a common-enough problem that I am also going to post it here.


    What you're experiencing is quite normal. Each person's body works differently, but when you get charged up about playing, which is at its peak before the performance, everything gets a little wacky. That energy is pent up, and then you go out to play and your body has to adjust. Suddenly you are taking in large quantities of air quickly, ...
  3. Free MP3 Downloads of Steve Sykes (Amazing Tuba Soloits)

    Steve Sykes is an amazing virtuoso tubist. He has great tone, wonderful technique, and a good sense of humor as he plays. He has a MySpace page with 4 full-length downloads of his incredible playing:


    Steve Sykes MySpace Page


    In listening to Czardas, I couldn't keep track of the number of octaves he covered - impressive!


    If you go to his website, you can learn more about him:


    Steve Sykes' Website
  4. Stuffy Response from Your Horn

    A couple of the previous posts have discussed common repairs/modifications that may sometimes be necessary to help a horn play as well as it should. There is another possibility if your horn seems to be in good shape but just has a stuffy response.


    Brass instruments are soldered together rather early in their gestation. After that the horn is polished, cleaned, perhaps power flushed and/or chemically cleaned. In some cases these processes may cause a small leak to develop, usually ...
  5. Speaking of Repairs/Adjustments: How About Valve Alignment?

    A previous post discussed re-working curved tubing to make it fit more "comfortably" as part of the whole horn. But with valved instruments, it is also important to make sure that the valve ports are perfectly aligned. When the valve is up or down, there are tunnels in the valve that should line up with the slides' entrance.

    Some horns are not made carefully enough and the alignment is not good. The will affect response and intonation.

    The most common problem is the vertical ...

    Updated 03-29-2019 at 07:24 PM by davewerden

    Categories
    Euphonium-Tuba Blog , General Tuba-Euphonium Blog
  6. Brass Instrument Relaxation

    This is not about helping the player relax, but rather helping the instrument relax. Some repair shops are now getting into the technique of taking a horn apart and re-fitting the parts so they fit in a more relaxed manner.


    Why is this necessary? The theory goes like this. When a horn is manufactured, tubes that were once straight are bent into the shape necessary to fit the shape of the horn. This can be done in various ways, taking more or less time to complete. If the tube ...
  7. Part 10: Arthur Lehman Remembers Euphoniumist Harold Brasch

    The 10th article by Arthur Lehman about Harold Brasch is now online. Arthur shares more of his memories of the great player and teacher.


    Here is an excerpt:


    ...Harold may be gone - in fact he was been gone for over 22 years - but his fame remains. He is famous because he was one of the very best of all euphonium players. He was the first to use the four valve compensating English euphonium since the turn of the century (from the late 1800's to the very early ...
  8. Part 9: Arthur Lehman Remembers Euphoniumist Harold Brasch

    The 9th article by Arthur Lehman about Harold Brasch is now online. Arthur shares more of his memories of the great player and teacher.


    Here is an excerpt:


    ...For a few years Harold Brasch had been talking about writing a new book about the 4-valve brasses in general and about the 4-valve compensating euphonium in particular. He felt strongly that there was a lack of information, studies, exercises designed especially for the 4-valve euphonium players who were ...
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