Toughest music piece

[noise]

Toughest music piece

Yeah, Festive Overture gave me fits the time my band played it. (I loved it anyway--great piece!)

The introduction to James Barnes' "Pagan Dances" is a brass fanfare in constantly shifting meters that has the trumpets, bones, and euph all going in different directions. It's an absolute bear to count, but super fun.

As far as solos, I recently took up Arthur Pryor's "The Little Chief". It has this one vicious lick--16th notes, starts on Db above middle C--then G in staff, Ab, Db, G-nat, Ab, Db, A-nat, Bb, Eb above staff, A-nat, Bb, Eb. Weird syncopation, it's kinda rough.

[PatRyan44]

Toughest music piece

I'll have to agree that the most challenging euphonium part I've seen recently is in the third movement of the Philip Sparke Year of the Dragon -- idiosyncratic 16th-note runs at mm=138. After a month of trying, our band had to give up on this movement and play only the first and second.

You can get a flavor for the piece, if not hear the euphos, at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zoj0K...eature=related

Kjetil, this isn't your group, is it?

[cochranme]

Toughest music piece

Originally posted by: PatRyan44

I'll have to agree that the most challenging euphonium part I've seen recently is in the third movement of the Philip Sparke Year of the Dragon

 

Ditto. One of the only wind band arrangements I've ever seen where the euphonium part is as hard as the original brass band, but it's SO FREAKING COOL!!! There are a couple of good recordings out there, I used to have one with the Brittannia Building Society Band playing it. Simply jaw dropping. Not to mention that the 2nd movement is one of the most gorgeous things ever for brass instruments.

This thread is making me realize how much I miss playing in an ensemble...

[jonromero1]

Toughest music piece

I would have to say the bpm 168 section in Philip Sparke's Pantomime. I just can't get my fingers to move fast enough yet. It's a work in progress, just like everything else. lol.

[Nuck81]

Toughest music piece

The first movement of the Sparke Euphonium Concerto. After five years I still can't lock down a few of those lines...

[RickF]

This is a 5 year old thread, but I have another piece to add to my list. We just performed the 4th movement from Holst's Planets... "Jupiter". I've listened to this pieces many times before but it was the first time I had the opportunity to play it. It covers 3 octaves from pedal Bb to high Bb in the euph part. Took quite a bit of 'woodshedden' on my part.

[DaveBj]

I've played "Tulsa," in college, I think (Butler University, late '60s). I don't remember it being all that bad, which probably means I was really screwing it up and didn't know it

Right off the top of my head, the one that comes to mind as the "toughest piece" is the transcription of "Les Preludes" (Lizst) that we played in high school. One passage has a lot of chromatic sixteenth notes down in 4th-valve territory, not easy on a non-comp horn.

[highpitch]

John Williams' "Cowboys". My tongue gets numb just after my brain on all the stuttering rhythms in the euph part.

DDG

[bpwilliams]

+ 100 for Festive Overture, Melody Slop and Agean Festival Overture!

[euphoniumRussia]

The solo from the Steven Mead Euphonium Virtuoso Series Carmen Fantasy, by Georges Bizet, arr. by Luc Vertommen.

[tonewheeler]

Holst "The Planets"....specifically, parts of "Jupiter", a real challenge.

[RickF]

We just got "Variations on 'America'" (Charles Ives, William Schuman, W. Rhoads) in our folders for next month's concert. It's a piece that was requested by one of our tuba players who played in a Navy Band. It gets pretty challenging in places... especially for the wood winds. Most of it is in a minor key, but I think the crowd will like it if we get it right.

I'm going to have to 'woodshed' some of the tricky parts myself (see below).

If interested, you can listen to the Marine Band play it here:
Ives / Variations on 'America'

[MarChant]

Right now, my community band is playing the "Dances of Galanta" by Kodaly. Most of it is totally playable but it has one or two bars with awkward fingering I have trouble getting right.

[bbocaner]

I have to laugh at the idea of "The Year of the Dragon" being one of the most difficult pieces of music. It was pretty state of the art in 1984 when it was written, but these days it's downright easy compared to most any newer brass band test piece, and is most often used by lower section bands.

[davewerden]

tonewheeler:

I tried to email to your account's address but it got bounced, so I am wondering if your account was hacked (because of the two "///" posts above).

Because the email was bounced I changed your password. You can use password reset feature to get it back, assuming that your email is d*****3@y****.com. If that is not the correct email, then contact me here:

http://www.dwerden.com/contact.cfm

Thanks.