General Questions about playing baritone

[K_Aufderhar]

Hello all,

My recently acquired Salvation Army Triumphonic baritone has arrived and I'm ready to start getting into the art of playing a british baritone. By trade, I am a euphonium player and having to play such a small instrument as baritone takes some getting used to. For the experienced baritone players of this forum, what are some general tips you can give me in order to get used to the horn and not try to play it like a euphonium? How should I approach playing baritone in general? What are some ways to get the characteristic sound and get the intonation in check? Any and all tips are appreciated! I pretty much know nothing!

Thank you!

[davewerden]

Now the fun starts! You might look at this:

http://www.dwerden.com/forum/entry.p...ing-Intonation

As far as tone, the horn is much smaller than a euphonium and needs to be "blown" differently. A little faster air stream will probably help (like blowing out a candle, while a euphonium wants the kind of air stream you use when warming your hands (that's over-simplified and exaggerated, but it might help you think of the concept). Mostly, trust the little horn to tell you what it wants. Don't over-blow it; relax with it and listen to what it wants to produce. Listen to a good trombonist play some slow melodies and try to work in that direction.

That part is pretty easy. The harder part (for me, anyway) is playing more aggressive music. The tendency to overblow is ever-present. So do some practice with marches or other "strong" music and watch the tuner. If you overblow the horn it will usually distort the pitch, so the tuner may help you pick up a problem before your ears do.

[daruby]

Dave's advice is great! I play both a York 3056 baritone (a Besson 956 clone) in the NEBB as well as the exact same SA Triumphonic you are playing, while Euphonium is my primary. I play a Wick 4AL on euphonium and have gotten used to the large horn, large sound, English style over the last 50 years. At first, I tried to play baritone with a Wick 4BS, 5BS, even a wick SM6B. I found all of these just too big. I sounded like a euphonium, had pitch issues above concert F and poor endurance. The best mouthpiece for me seems to be either a Bach 5G or 6.5AL on baritone. Since the baritone is not nearly as resonant as a euphonium, playing the smaller mouthpiece helps in getting the baritone to respond.

The biggest issue is to tighten up my embouchure and back down the amount air I try to push through the horn while increasing the apparent "speed" of that air. The baritone plays much more like a trombone in terms of embouchure and air than it does like a euphonium. I work to get as rich a sound as I can without sounding "woofy" on baritone. I use Katrina Marzella as my model, since I think she has perhaps the best baritone sound out there these days.

Hope this helps.

Doug

[BDeisinger]

I agree with Doug that the 61/2 AL is the best for baritone.