6-7 minutes Euph High School player?

[JxRill]

Hello!
I am an okay high school euphonium player. This year, I went on a music competition between South East Asian international schools and I played the solo "Andante et Allegro" by J. Guy Ropartz and I'd say it went quite well because I was formally commended by the judges. But this year, I'm kind of having struggles looking for a good solo to play for my next audition (as we have to audition every year).

Requirements of the solo:
6-7 minutes (though if the song length is longer than that maybe I can just cut some parts out haha)
At least grade 4 piece? (would like a fairly advanced one since competition might be high this yea)
Only up to high G to A because I have braces right now and it's quite difficult for me to play high notes... those notes are the ones that I can play consistently though if the song has a few A's & B flats and C's I think I should be fine.
PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT PLEASE!

Thank you guys!

[Euphonium17]

Hello there! I am also a high school student and I went through the same problem a few months ago. I ended up playing Haddad's Suite for Baritone, which is an amazing piece! It is 3 movements and around 10 minutes, however you could play 2 to get in your time range. It has a few high C's, but only 2 or 3, it may be a bit higher than you are looking for. If so, I know some others:
-Blue Bells of Scotland
-Devil's Tongue
-Sonata in Bb by Mozart
-Concerto in Bb by Mozart
-Fantasie Brilliante
These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, all of them are great pieces!

[RickF]

Check out “Beautiful Colorado” (DeLuca). It’s 6 mins long in this video with piano, but she may be a bit under tempo in places:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kjvuYlNLLtY

One of my favorites is “Rhapsody for Euphonium” (James Curnow). It’s right at 6 min. length with band but a bit under 6 mins with piano. My grandson is playing this next month with his H.S. band. Below are a couple of links - one with the solo music, one with video.

https://musescore.com/user/117365/scores/130280
...don’t listen to the midi play of this since it’s not rubato

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=grWyRFIgSnw

Good luck finding a piece.

[daviste]

J.E. Barat's Andante et Allegro is the solo I'm working on right now for a competition. It goes up to a high Bb a few times and there is a decent amount of time spent around high Gb, G, and Ab. If you can read treble clef, you might be able to use something written for trumpet. Song for Ina by Philip Sparke might be a good one, too.

[Greg_R]

Arban's Fantasie Brilliante is the piece I did a year after the Ropartz when I was in high school; I seem to recall it was used as the all-state audition piece. Vivaldi's Sonata I for trombone (arr. Ostrander) was in there somewhere as well.

[JxRill]

Thank you all for the prompt replies!

Arban's Fantasie Brilliante is the piece I did a year after the Ropartz when I was in high school; I seem to recall it was used as the all-state
audition piece. Vivaldi's Sonata I for trombone (arr. Ostrander) was in there somewhere as well.

Hi there, I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks! I think my teacher / coach prefers me to play a euphonium piece rather than a trombone piece haha so I'll check and see if playing Arban's Fantasie Brilliante will be realistic enough to master by October. I really like the song but I'm not quite good at triple tonguing, though I think my tutor can help me with that. Maybe I can cut out some of the hard parts?? Haha

J.E. Barat's Andante et Allegro is the solo I'm working on right now for a competition. It goes up to a high Bb a few times and there is a decent amount of time spent around high Gb, G, and Ab. If you can read treble clef, you might be able to use something written for trumpet. Song for Ina by Philip Sparke might be a good one, too.

Hi, thanks for the prompt response! My teacher / coach told me not to play Andante et Allegro by Barat when I asked him about it because he said that I'm better off looking for other pieces. Despite this, thanks for the recommendation

Check out “Beautiful Colorado” (DeLuca). It’s 6 mins long in this video with piano, but she may be a bit under tempo in places:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kjvuYlNLLtY

One of my favorites is “Rhapsody for Euphonium” (James Curnow). It’s right at 6 min. length with band but a bit under 6 mins with piano. My grandson is playing this next month with his H.S. band. Below are a couple of links - one with the solo music, one with video.

https://musescore.com/user/117365/scores/130280
...don’t listen to the midi play of this since it’s not rubato

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=grWyRFIgSnw

Good luck finding a piece.

Thank you! Beautiful Colorado sounds wonderful; unfortunately, I think the competition prefers a classical piece haha. Rhapsody for Euphonium is really nice too, but it's only a grade II-III piece and my teacher / coach does not really like it :/ sorry. However once again, thank you very much for the advice! I am strongly considering to play Fantaisie Brilliante by Arban

Hello there! I am also a high school student and I went through the same problem a few months ago. I ended up playing Haddad's Suite for Baritone, which is an amazing piece! It is 3 movements and around 10 minutes, however you could play 2 to get in your time range. It has a few high C's, but only 2 or 3, it may be a bit higher than you are looking for. If so, I know some others:
-Blue Bells of Scotland
-Devil's Tongue
-Sonata in Bb by Mozart
-Concerto in Bb by Mozart
-Fantasie Brilliante
These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, all of them are great pieces!

Hello, thanks so much for the help! I can't really find the Sonata in Bb or Concerto in Bb by Mozart so a link to that would be very helpful. Anyway, I'm strongly considering to play Fantaisie Brillante. Any advice with the triple tonguing? I might need to cut out some parts since it's too long but it's beautiful and I'm sure my tutor can help me cut some out. Thanks for the recommendations!

[Euphonium17]

I can't really find the Sonata in Bb or Concerto in Bb by Mozart so a link to that would be very helpful.

I wish I had a recording, I'm in the same boat as you on that one! I just have heard a lot about it and I've looked into playing it, but I wasn't able to find a recording either, sorry!

I'm strongly considering to play Fantaisie Brillante. Any advice with the triple tonguing?

Awesome, I'm considering doing that piece for a competition next year! And with triple tonguing, you might look at some of the exercises in the Arban, and then just start working on it slow to get control and then slowly ramp up the tempo, the best way is to take you time, I've found! Don't take it faster than you can, you never want to play it too fast you can't control it. That third variation is a kicker! Best of luck to you!

[euphlight]

I can't get remember the timing of it but Concert Piece by PV de la Nux might work. It does go to high Bb a couple of times however.

[JxRill]

I wish I had a recording, I'm in the same boat as you on that one! I just have heard a lot about it and I've looked into playing it, but I wasn't able to find a recording either, sorry!

Awesome, I'm considering doing that piece for a competition next year! And with triple tonguing, you might look at some of the exercises in the Arban, and then just start working on it slow to get control and then slowly ramp up the tempo, the best way is to take you time, I've found! Don't take it faster than you can, you never want to play it too fast you can't control it. That third variation is a kicker! Best of luck to you!

Well, thank you for the help! I should be able to master it by October haha

[Euphonium17]

Best of luck to you, and happy practicing!

[JxRill]

Best of luck to you, and happy practicing!

Hi! My coach recommended me to instead play Haddad's Suite for Baritone which also seems pretty realistic for me haha so I decided to play that one instead. Any specific advice on that one? Also, is there a place where I can get the sheet music for preferably BC Euphonium & piano accompaniment for free? If not, I guess I don't mind paying haha

[davidf]

Thank you! Beautiful Colorado sounds wonderful; unfortunately, I think the competition prefers a classical piece haha. Rhapsody for Euphonium is really nice too, but it's only a grade II-III piece and my teacher / coach does not really like it :/ sorry. However once again, thank you very much for the advice! I am strongly considering to play Fantaisie Brilliante by Arban

Really enjoying this thread there are lots of lovely pieces out there. From a UK perspective I'm confused when you say something is a grade II-III piece - I'm used to the ABRSM grades in the UK and this sounds much harder than what I would know as Grade 2 - 3. Is there a comparison chart between the two types of grades?

[RickF]

Really enjoying this thread there are lots of lovely pieces out there. From a UK perspective I'm confused when you say something is a grade II-III piece - I'm used to the ABRSM grades in the UK and this sounds much harder than what I would know as Grade 2 - 3. Is there a comparison chart between the two types of grades?

The grading system in the U.S. is not very uniform. Some states seem to have different grades set on pieces. When I played "Rhapsody for Euphonium" (Curnow) with wind band, it did say grade 3, but I was told that it referred to the 'band part' not the soloist part. It seemed harder than 3 to me.

[Euphonium17]

Hi! My coach recommended me to instead play Haddad's Suite for Baritone which also seems pretty realistic for me haha so I decided to play that one instead. Any specific advice on that one? Also, is there a place where I can get the sheet music for preferably BC Euphonium & piano accompaniment for free? If not, I guess I don't mind paying haha

I would listen to it a couple times, here's a good recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVsTsX8hmQ
His overall interpretation of everything seems to be good. After that, it's pretty straightforward, just watch all of the articulations, such as the stacatti and slurs, and it does lack dynamics in some places so don't be afraid to make a musical decision and add them in places, and make sure to do a lot with dynamics. Feel free to have fun with it, and be sure to give it some good interpretation and style. Other than that, just watch breathing, and then make sure to work with your accompanist (if you have one) to figure out what you need to conduct for them (especially mvt. 2), and to get it together, especially the 3rd movement. And don't shy away from the high C's, even if you do have braces!
And I don't know of anywhere to get it free, sorry. But it should be at a reasonable price on Hickey's or J.W. Pepper.
Hope this helps, good luck, it's definitely a fun piece to play!

[JxRill]

I would listen to it a couple times, here's a good recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVsTsX8hmQ
His overall interpretation of everything seems to be good. After that, it's pretty straightforward, just watch all of the articulations, such as the stacatti and slurs, and it does lack dynamics in some places so don't be afraid to make a musical decision and add them in places, and make sure to do a lot with dynamics. Feel free to have fun with it, and be sure to give it some good interpretation and style. Other than that, just watch breathing, and then make sure to work with your accompanist (if you have one) to figure out what you need to conduct for them (especially mvt. 2), and to get it together, especially the 3rd movement. And don't shy away from the high C's, even if you do have braces!
And I don't know of anywhere to get it free, sorry. But it should be at a reasonable price on Hickey's or J.W. Pepper.
Hope this helps, good luck, it's definitely a fun piece to play!

I see. Thanks for the advice! My tutor should also be able to help me with stuff I forget to do eg dynamic, etc..