I just received a message from a high school student who had seen my Youtube video. His message raised an interesing question:
"...Hello Doug, I was just wondering if you could tell me if you think I can make All State with a month worth of practice on a Besson Sovereign, stepping up from a Yamaha YEP-201 student euphonium? As long as I practice like an hour-2 hours a day I should be alright, right? Or is it that big of difference?...."
My lengthy reply (and I invite comments):
"I have played Euphonium for 47 years, mostly at a very high amateur or low-professional level. I play a 1980 Besson 967S Sovereign using a Denis Wick 4AL that I purchased new in 1981. I played Conn Connstellation horns (4 valve but a bit smaller than the YEP-201) from 9th grade through my sophomore year in college. I played Besson Imperials during my junior and senior years of college and first year of graduate school.
My senior year in HS (1969), my euphonium teacher bought a Besson Imperial (similar to the 968 and the predecessor to the Sovereign). I already had been 1st chair in the All-state top band in California for 2 years running. At the time I played a very small mouthpiece, a Bach 12 (we all used smaller ones then). About 1 month before playing the spring concert in which I soloed Fantasia di Concerto by Boccalari with the band, my instructor loaned me his Imperial. WOW, what a change! While the sound was much nicer, it took a lot more strength and energy to play, even though I did not change mouthpieces. My band director was quite upset with me and it was not until the dress rehearsal that I finally was able to get through the number without "falling on my face" somewhere along the way. That one month was just enough for me to make the transition and I was already the top high school performer in the state of California.
The Besson is a MUCH larger bore than the Yamaha YEP-201. It also is physically much heavier and requires changes in how you hold the horn to adapt to the 4th valve. The 967 is most comparable to the Yamaha YEP-842S in size and is considerably larger than the YEP-642. As long as you are not trying to use the 4th valve much, it should play enough like the Yamaha YEP-201 that you will be ok, AS LONG as you do not change mouthpieces. Changing to a large horn and also adjusting to embouchure changes dictated by a larger mouthpiece is going to be too much in one month.
1. What mouthpiece do you play on the YEP-201? It will be a small tenor shank mouthpiece due to the size of the leadpipe on the Yamaha. EDIT: I have since found he plays the stock Yamaha 48.
2. You should replicate that mouthpiece in a large shank (Bass trombone shank) for the Besson...Do this now so you have the new matching mouthpiece as soon as you receive the horn.
3. Use the new mouthpiece comparison chart at mouthpiece chart to make comparisons with you current mouthpiece
By way of comparison, I just finished an 8 day Northeast Tuba and Euphonium Workshop. We had 8 Euphonium players, 6 of whom had good horns including: YEP-321, YEP-641, YEP-642, YEP-842S, Willson 2900, Besson Sovereign, and York Preference (similar to a Besson Prestige). One of the Yamaha 642 players is going to be a senior in HS. He studies under Roger Behrend and is a very strong player. We swapped horns (he kept his Schilke 51D) and he tried my Besson. His immediate reaction was that he would need to work hard to grow into the horn since it felt larger than his YEP-642. The Willson 2900 student is a college graduate about to enter Brian Bowman's graduate program. He plays a BB-1 mouthpiece (similar to the Shilke 51D in size). He felt that my Besson was VERY large compared to his horn. I tried his Willson and it felt very small to me.
Having said all of this, you are still early in your HS career. If so, the Sovereign will give you lots of room to grow into. As you get stronger, you can fill up the horn with an ever bigger sound. This horn was designed for the Denis Wick line of mouthpieces, specifically either the Wick 4AL or its Steven Mead equivalent (SM4). I progressed from my Bach 12 to a Bach 6 ½ AL, and finally to the Denis Wick 4AL, but I still sometimes fall back to the 6 ½ when my embouchure is suffering as it was yesterday after 7 straight days of playing 5+ hours a day. When your breathing, embouchure, strength and skill reach the point where you can play a Sovereign like it is designed to be played, you will be richly rewarded by a very warm and breathtaking sound...."
Doug