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Thread: The "International Songbook for Euphonium" by David Werden

  1. #1

    The "International Songbook for Euphonium" by David Werden

    After many months I finally got all 19 arrangements done for my new songbook! It is now published and available at the link below. On that page you'll find audio recordings of ALL the songs (linked individually).

    https://www.cimarronmusic.com/intern...okforeuphonium

    If you prefer videos, this playlist should have all of them:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dFr...Rnuo2LwlNt1XWh

    The titles are in the photo below, but you should also know about the book's title reference to "International." There are songs from the USA, England, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, and Austria. Solo parts in TC and BC. Here is the foreword to explain more about the purpose:

    INTERNATIONAL SONGBOOK FOR EUPHONIUM

    In grateful memory of Henry Charles Smith for his inspiration. Special thanks to Sara Brunk, my collaborative pianist, who helped me work out many issues in the piano parts and provided her sensitive piano playing as we recorded the songs.

    For as long as I have played an instrument, one fact was constant: I played my best when I was playing a beautiful or spirited melody. Even when I was a youngster with no confidence, I could feel how a wonderful melody caused me to play with more expression.


    My love of playing songs grew when I studied with Henry Charles Smith. After going through whatever difficult material we had for the day, we would invariably end the lesson with Henry at the piano and me reading over his shoulder. He chose songs from his books of oratorios that were perfect for the euphonium's capabilities. Even though I could usually sight read the notes, the power of the music drew me out (and he would offer suggestions as he sensed the need).

    For this book, I chose pieces that are at their core fine music, from simple (or folk) songs to pieces by master composers like Schubert and Mozart. Some are so simple that almost any high school player can perform them, but those same songs contain enough depth that an advanced player can find excellent outlets for their musical ideas.

    A recitalist might choose to group songs according to the "themes" shown here.

    Folk Songs / Nationality: Among the composers and countries of origin for the folk songs, there is fine material from the USA, England, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, and Austria. This book could help you build a national or international theme for a recital. There are ample choices to program a "folk song" segment.

    Stephen Foster: The three songs by Stephen Foster would make a nice feature during a recital. (Foster is known as "the father of American music".) Note that there is an "Easter egg" (a hidden treat) within "Some Folks / Some Folks Polka." In that song, the piano plays three additional Foster songs during interludes: "Mr. & Mrs. Brown", "We are Coming, Father Abraham", and "Village Bells Polka".


    Pop culture: The old song "Aura Lea" (or "Aura Lee") was used with a few melodic modifications to make the Elvis Presley hit "Love Me Tender." The simple beauty of its melody has charmed listeners for over a century and a half. The theme I used from a Schubert sonata for piano was the main theme for the early episodes of the sitcom "Wings." This melody also wore well for over a century and a half. Its smooth, moving lines worked very well with the "Wings" opening video of a small plane flying over a New England island.


    Hidden children's song: Within "Alle Vögel Sind Schon Da" you may notice I have included a bit of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The structure of the two songs is very similar. I also used some of Mozart's variations on the same children's song in the piano part.

    Encore/utility potential: I include in the collection four songs that could easily be used as last-minute encores. There have been times when I needed one more encore than I had prepared. In those situations, it is useful to have a piece or two that you can play without having planned to. One selection is the Gervaise “Allemande,” inspired by hearing trumpet artist Maurice Andre use it as an unaccompanied encore. This songbook includes a version for unaccompanied solo and one for solo with piano. The other two encore songs are unaccompanied, based on my own version of "The Last Rose of Summer," which I have used a few times as a final encore. The first version I wrote is in the standard key of Eb (the key found in the Arban book). For occasions when you need to play an encore with very tired chops, the same song is printed for you in a lower key!

    Worship services: I have used four of these pieces as part of a church service. The ones I used are Mozart's "Alleluia," Bach's "Bist Du Bei Mir," Mendelssohn's "If with All Your Hearts," and “Theme from Schubert Sonata in A Major.” Others could be used as well, depending on the service. For a Christmas season song, "Hacia Belen va una Burra" is often sung at Christmas in Spain.

    The road less traveled: Two songs in the collection are mostly unknown. I initially heard them from two very different sources. "Homing" is a song I heard on an out-of-print LP of Joan Sutherland. (It is quite hard to find any other recordings of "Homing.") Its melody drew me in from the first time I heard her sing it. And I surely would not know "Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes" if I had not heard Andy Griffith sing it on his courtroom drama "Matlock." The melody for this British lullaby was written in the 1800's. (The song’s words originated 200 years before that, later used in part by the Beatles.)

    This project consumed a great deal of time over several months, a measure of my enthusiasm for such a book! I hope you get as much enjoyment from these pieces as I did while selecting, arranging, and recording them.

    David Werden


    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by davewerden; 04-10-2022 at 06:22 PM.
    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

  2. #2
    Wow, what a great collection!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    That is a great project you have done, Dave. Nicely played, nicely arranged, all in all a very nice addition to the repertoire. Well done!!
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  4. #4
    Thanks, guys! Lots of sweat equity, and well over $1k in costs, to do this, but I'm happy with the results. As much as I enjoy playing technical solos, I kept these in range of a good high school player. And needing a "good" high school player is only for a few of them. Most of the book can be played by someone whose technique is not developed. As my "crutch" I leaned toward songs that were really nice music on their own, so a professional-grade player can enjoy playing them, even if a high school kid might be practicing the same song.

    I think the recordings came off pretty well. None were prepared to true performance standards. I'm doing 3 of these on my recitals at the GPRTEC in May, and you can bet I'll be practicing them more to get the fine points and subtleties.
    Last edited by davewerden; 04-10-2022 at 08:10 PM.
    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

  5. #5
    Yay! Gonna order!
    David Bjornstad

    1923 Conn New Wonder 86I, Bach 6 1/2 AL
    2018 Wessex EP100 Dolce, Denis Wick 4ABL
    2013 Jinbao JBEP-1111L, Denis Wick 4AM
    2015 Jinbao JBBR-1240, Denis Wick clone mouthpiece of unknown designation
    Cullman (AL) Community Band (Euph Section Leader)
    Brass Band of Huntsville (2nd Bari)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    West Palm Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,853
    What a great collection of nice solos! Quite an endeavor I'm sure.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  7. #7
    Thanks, Dave and Rick! It was quite a process for sure.

    As I arranged this, I tried to use songs that are inherently interesting and compelling. I ALSO gave some thought to combinations that could make a good program segment on a recital. Here is one such idea, a Stephen Foster Medley. (Foster is known as "the father of American music".) It combines the three songs (plus some surprises songs in the piano part): Jenny June, Beautiful Dreamer, and Some Folks / Some Folks Polka.

    https://youtu.be/cUa6xAQz1mM

    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

  8. #8
    Hi Dave,

    When I try to add downloadable version to the cart, my virus protection finds URL:MAL virus.

    Mike

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by mbrooke View Post
    Hi Dave,
    When I try to add downloadable version to the cart, my virus protection finds URL:MAL virus.
    Mike
    I don't know why that would be. I just tried adding to cart in Chrome and Edge, running Norton Anti-Virus in the background, and I got no such message.

    Some of you know that I spent 23 years working on web development for e-commerce. In my experience, such warnings can be from any of:

    - An actual problem on a questionable website

    - A virus that is already on your computer and shows up in random behaviors

    - A router that has protections based on a database of sites. (I am running one of those, plus the EERO system on my network, which adds another layer of checking). In that past, I have experience issues with such things blocking me from getting to the Veterans Administration site, to name one example.
    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

  10. #10
    Just to follow up, I ran the Cimarron page through sitecheckerpro and it came up clean. See the screen shot below. I also run WebOfTrust's extension in my main browser and it has no warnings for Cimarron.

    You might try adding to cart from a different browser and see if the result is the same. You may also want to restart clean and immediately run a virus/malware check on your computer to make sure it's clean. There is a free version of MalwareBytes that is very well regarded (I use the pro version of it full-time on my computer).

    Cimarron sells a LOT of music, and I have yet to hear of any kind of virus issue.

    In case you can't read it from the image below, the checker's summary says:

    Website safety status:The website is not blacklisted and looks safe to use.
    Data performed by Google Safe Browsing Checker
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Cimarron Site Check.jpg 
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    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

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