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  1. Music Appreciation 101: Chapter 1, Spike Jones

    As a college teacher I often find myself mentioning a performer that none of my students recognize. Sometimes that is of little practical consequence, but there are some artists that should be known by all.


    This first chapter deals with the musical legend Spike Jones. He was a bandleader and comic, both at the same time. His band was filled with talented players who could make any song into a comedy routine. One of his most popular examples is Cocktails for Two. The sound effects ...
  2. Running with Boots On

    As brass players we face a pair of challenges that are in opposition to each other.

    On the one hand we strive to do things efficiently. We want to convert our efforts into the maximum effect, so for each cubic inch of air that comes out of our lungs we want to get the most sound. We work to develop each extra decibel of sound so that we have a great dynamic range.

    On the other hand our bodies keep telling us to do less. Brass playing is not a very natural act. We take in ...

    Updated 05-16-2020 at 07:56 PM by davewerden

    Categories
    Euphonium-Tuba Blog , Performance Tips
  3. Brass Instrument Manufacturer in India - Video

    CNN has an interesting video of a family-owned business in India, one that has been around for over 100 years. It is always fun to see how our pretty, smooth horns begin as rather rough, cobbled together pieces of sheet metal.


    Making Brass Instruments


    (Be patient; there is a short video commercial at the beginning.)
  4. Greatest Musical Instrument Museum In The World

    This aptly-named site has a wonderful video showing instruments in many contexts from all around the world. I saw several I have never seen before. There was even some screen time for a Sousaphone and a euphonium.


    Greatest Musical Instrument Museum In The World
  5. Video Games and Marching Bands???

    Regular readers will certainly know that I very seldom post about marching bands, but this is too good to pass up. The Cal Band from California does a halftime show in tribute to video games. Very clever! See if you recognize all the games.


  6. Merry Christmas!

    I hope all my readers are having a nice holiday season. As my family is in the midst of celebrating Christmas, I wanted to offer you this simple puzzle:


    Christmas Puzzle


    Have fun!
  7. Measuring the Bore

    This topic comes up regularly so it's time I posted about it. There is a lot of confusion about how/where to measure the bore of a brass instrument. The situation is compounded by manufacturers when they choose different methods for measurement so they can claim larger bore sizes in their ads.


    The standard method is the measure the inner diameter of the tubing of the second valve slide (I am referring to the slide that you can remove, not the tubes that are soldered to the valve ...
  8. New Stainless Steel KELLYberg Tuba Mouthpiece

    I recently had the chance to do some testing (in my own studio) of the new Kelly stainless steel KELLYberg tuba mouthpiece. It is modeled after the well-loved Helleberg mouthpiece, which was named after the principal tubist of the Sousa band, August Helleberg.


    My testing was on my Sovereign EE-flat tuba, which I have played for about 20 years. I have used a Schilke 67 mouthpiece for most of that time.


    The mouthpiece makes a great first impression because it ...
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