Man up! Get tough! Some people actually play HEAVY brass instruments, rather than those featherweight euphoniums.
That being said, for playing in a seated position one of the first things I did was to experiment with pillows to rest the horn on, and then I made myself a "euphonium board" that is a piece of 1/4" poplar (Lowes) with rounded corners (saber saw), clear varnished, and with the waffle style drawer liner on it (actually, now one side has some additional strips added on top of the first one since I found the instrument was slipping on just the one strip).
Am I too wimpy to just hold the instrument in my arms and play? Well, basically, yes. I can attribute it to a mis-spent youth (or at least a mis-spent couple of decades in my 40s and 50s that resulted in two cervical spine fusions, five broken ribs and collarbone, a broken shoulder, and what my orthopedic surgeon has referred to as "a mess" of arthritis in the shoulders. Yes, there comes a time when you're lying on your back looking up at the clear Georgia sky on a beautiful day -- on the outer edge of Turn 7 at Road Atlanta -- and you say to yourself "Maybe this isn't such a good idea for a guy in his 50s." Or turn 12 at Carolina Motorsports park a couple of years later (the ribs and collarbone). Anyhow, I am not apologetic about using a support for playing when seated. And I don't see it as unmanly for anyone else. So that's something to think about.
I don't need to do this for my oval euph (largely because of the different hand positions), but for the BBb tuba I made a special support device that has a cushion on top (so I sit on the whole thing) and a kind of adjustable "T" made of PVC pipe in front that the horn rests on. I do not like to wrestle with my instruments while trying to get music out of them. I seem to be able to play the Eb horn without any aid -- it's just the right size. But for the compensating euph and the Cerveny tuba, I use mechanical aids.
Last edited by ghmerrill; 01-05-2013 at 03:23 PM.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)