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Thread: Writing and arranging for Euphonium and Euph/Tuba quartet

  1. #1

    Writing and arranging for Euphonium and Euph/Tuba quartet

    How many of you arrange or compose for euphonium or tuba quartets?

    Just curious how you got your start. I am looking to expand my repertoire for church music. I have the Curnow books but would like to create more. Mostly for solo unaccompanied Euphonium.
    John 3:16


    Conn Victor 5H Trombone
    Yamaha 354 Trombone
    Conn 15I Euphonium

  2. #2
    I got started out of necessity! We formed a euph/tuba quartet in 1976 or so and did not find a lot of music that was good and was also programmable. So we wrote some of our own, just for the group. I started with some Bach (Air on the G String and Bist Du Bei Mir) as my first two. If you know Bach voice leading it's pretty easy to migrate to e/t-4. Then we got so many requests for our music that we formed Whaling Music Publishers, which I later sold to Cimarron Music.

    The hardest part was avoiding voice crossing, which I have officially allowed myself to do nowadays (but in clever ways so it becomes an asset to the piece instead of a detriment). When you have the root on an F at the bottom of the bass clef staff, the 3rd of the chord can't go just a 3rd above it - that sounds too grumble-ish.

    The type of piece is flexible. I have used horn trios as a starting point (my Reicha Four Quartets) and full symphonic works (i.e. Berlioz Hungarian March) as a starting point. Both those were very successful.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Indianapolis area
    Posts
    1,000
    Adding to Dave's info above, any jazz arranging book has a chart showing the lowest possible range for each interval to avoid the "grumbleosity" Dave describes above. I'm sure you're aware of that already. Observe those carefully and leave a bit of extra room if possible.
    The hardest job in any homogeneous ensemble is to vary the texture in order to keep the listener engaged. A T/E quartet does NOT have to have everyone playing at the same time...part of a tune could be a duet of EE, TT, or ET, part could be a trio, etc. There are many ways to vary texture before resorting to mutes.
    If possible, vary open and closed voicings if a tune permits, again for the sake of variety. If the tessitura allows, sometimes a drop-2 works.
    I also like to give each player a chance to shine, for the player's sake as well as for the audience. Could be a melody, counter-melody, bass solo, obbligato, etc.
    Some of these ideas are "micro"--within a given piece, and others are "macro" and can be achieved by programming.
    Jim Williams N9EJR (love 10 meter CW)
    Formerly Principal Euphonium in a whole
    bunch of groups, now just a schlub.
    Shires Q41, Yamaha 321, 621 Baritone
    Wick 4AL, Wessex 4Y, or whatever I grab.
    Conn 50H trombone, Blue P-bone
    www.soundcloud.com/jweuph

  4. #4
    Thanks for sharing. I remember Whaling Music Publishers! Much appreciative of that literature. Definitely understand the close voicing/grumblishness.

    Quote Originally Posted by davewerden View Post
    I got started out of necessity! We formed a euph/tuba quartet in 1976 or so and did not find a lot of music that was good and was also programmable. So we wrote some of our own, just for the group. I started with some Bach (Air on the G String and Bist Du Bei Mir) as my first two. If you know Bach voice leading it's pretty easy to migrate to e/t-4. Then we got so many requests for our music that we formed Whaling Music Publishers, which I later sold to Cimarron Music.

    The hardest part was avoiding voice crossing, which I have officially allowed myself to do nowadays (but in clever ways so it becomes an asset to the piece instead of a detriment). When you have the root on an F at the bottom of the bass clef staff, the 3rd of the chord can't go just a 3rd above it - that sounds too grumble-ish.

    The type of piece is flexible. I have used horn trios as a starting point (my Reicha Four Quartets) and full symphonic works (i.e. Berlioz Hungarian March) as a starting point. Both those were very successful.
    John 3:16


    Conn Victor 5H Trombone
    Yamaha 354 Trombone
    Conn 15I Euphonium

  5. #5
    Thanks Jim. Makes sense. I have listened to jazz for over 40 years and performed but I'm not an improviser. Would like to change that. Definitely agree about not all parts having to play at once. I envy your time with Harvey Phillips. Love the Matteson-Phillips recordings. I may give it a whirl but I wasn't a music major and have only a little bit of theory training. I would have a steep learning curve.

    Quote Originally Posted by Snorlax View Post
    Adding to Dave's info above, any jazz arranging book has a chart showing the lowest possible range for each interval to avoid the "grumbleosity" Dave describes above. I'm sure you're aware of that already. Observe those carefully and leave a bit of extra room if possible.
    The hardest job in any homogeneous ensemble is to vary the texture in order to keep the listener engaged. A T/E quartet does NOT have to have everyone playing at the same time...part of a tune could be a duet of EE, TT, or ET, part could be a trio, etc. There are many ways to vary texture before resorting to mutes.
    If possible, vary open and closed voicings if a tune permits, again for the sake of variety. If the tessitura allows, sometimes a drop-2 works.
    I also like to give each player a chance to shine, for the player's sake as well as for the audience. Could be a melody, counter-melody, bass solo, obbligato, etc.
    Some of these ideas are "micro"--within a given piece, and others are "macro" and can be achieved by programming.
    John 3:16


    Conn Victor 5H Trombone
    Yamaha 354 Trombone
    Conn 15I Euphonium

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Indianapolis area
    Posts
    1,000
    Quote Originally Posted by Davidus1 View Post
    Thanks Jim. Makes sense. I have listened to jazz for over 40 years and performed but I'm not an improviser. Would like to change that. Definitely agree about not all parts having to play at once. I envy your time with Harvey Phillips. Love the Matteson-Phillips recordings. I may give it a whirl but I wasn't a music major and have only a little bit of theory training. I would have a steep learning curve.
    My degrees are in Foreign Language and Finance (there's a combo!)...never took theory & sorta know where middle C is on the piano...but I never let that stop me, even now at age 68. GO FOR IT.

    I started doing stuff for my brass quintet, in which I play horn parts on a Yamaha 321. Now there are about three dozen of my charts in the book, pop, jazz, swing, and "whistling classics." It was born out of necessity, since we were not making any money playing "serious brass quintet literature."

    From there I went on to brass choir and brass band because there wasn't much pop or jazz written, and I wanted to be Benny Goodman, Denny Dias of Steely Dan, or Dave Bargeron of BS&T. You've heard many of them, I think, and I've branched out into EETT quartet and stuff for wind ensemble.

    I repeat: GO FOR IT. Your inherent musicality will guide you to the desired results, and I'm sure you have a large group of friends who'd love to see what you've done.

    Indeed, I remain eternally grateful that Harvey heard something he liked in my playing. The suits at the music school were not going to let me work with him since I wasn't a music major, but Harvey intervened. When Harvey "intervened," people listened.
    Jim Williams N9EJR (love 10 meter CW)
    Formerly Principal Euphonium in a whole
    bunch of groups, now just a schlub.
    Shires Q41, Yamaha 321, 621 Baritone
    Wick 4AL, Wessex 4Y, or whatever I grab.
    Conn 50H trombone, Blue P-bone
    www.soundcloud.com/jweuph

  7. The best tip I can give you is to keep as much space as possible between the two tuba parts. If they get closer than a fifth to each other the result can be pretty muddy.

  8. #8
    Thanks Mike! I'll keep that in mind.

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeS View Post
    The best tip I can give you is to keep as much space as possible between the two tuba parts. If they get closer than a fifth to each other the result can be pretty muddy.
    John 3:16


    Conn Victor 5H Trombone
    Yamaha 354 Trombone
    Conn 15I Euphonium

  9. #9
    That is a combo! I knew you had a Finance degree from your Facebook page but thought maybe you had double-majored or minored in music at IU. I have checked out your recordings on SoundCloud and very much enjoyed them. I am in the process of switching from Tuba to Euphonium on a more permanent basis. I've played Euph a bit through the years but am wanting to get a little more serious about it. I appreciate the encouragement!


    Quote Originally Posted by Snorlax View Post
    My degrees are in Foreign Language and Finance (there's a combo!)...never took theory & sorta know where middle C is on the piano...but I never let that stop me, even now at age 68. GO FOR IT.

    I started doing stuff for my brass quintet, in which I play horn parts on a Yamaha 321. Now there are about three dozen of my charts in the book, pop, jazz, swing, and "whistling classics." It was born out of necessity, since we were not making any money playing "serious brass quintet literature."

    From there I went on to brass choir and brass band because there wasn't much pop or jazz written, and I wanted to be Benny Goodman, Denny Dias of Steely Dan, or Dave Bargeron of BS&T. You've heard many of them, I think, and I've branched out into EETT quartet and stuff for wind ensemble.

    I repeat: GO FOR IT. Your inherent musicality will guide you to the desired results, and I'm sure you have a large group of friends who'd love to see what you've done.

    Indeed, I remain eternally grateful that Harvey heard something he liked in my playing. The suits at the music school were not going to let me work with him since I wasn't a music major, but Harvey intervened. When Harvey "intervened," people listened.
    John 3:16


    Conn Victor 5H Trombone
    Yamaha 354 Trombone
    Conn 15I Euphonium

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