Instruments and Equipment

The instrument choices today make this question more complex. Some of this post applies to tuba and other instruments, but I will specifically address euphonium.

Until the late 1970's, there was a pretty wide line between pro euphoniums (i.e. Besson and Boosey & Hawkes) and everything else. That line was largely drawn by the compensating system, but also included the larger bore of the British instruments. Today we have large-bore, compensating euphoniums that cost less than some student-level ...

After a great of thought and study, I decided to go with a Cronkhite leather gig bag. It was a hard decision because I have enjoyed my Altieri bag, starting in the 1990's, but I'm convinced the leather Cronkhite offers better protection. This review will include a comparison between the two bags. Let me also say that my Altieri bag gave me fine service for all these years. It held up well and was very convenient to use for my own situation (the horn is always under my control, for one thing). An ...

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

On this forum and others we often talk about the "magic" of old horns. I have personally used the "m" word to describe the tone of the old, British-built Bessons. The reasons are many. No doubt materials, design, and construction methods enter into it. Age is also a factor. I've heard (from a very knowledgeable source) that a twisty brass instrument could have stresses at joints if not enough time is taken to make sure the metal is happy in its new configuration. The ...

These impressions are based on my testing at ITEC 2019. I chose to combine the two horns because they share similarities in manufacturing and are both part of the Eastman/Shires family.

They seemed to share at least some parts, or possibly just design concepts. One I noted is the connector on the front side between valve 1 and 2. On both horns it follows the model of Willson, with more of a rounded-rectangle idea than a smooth curve. You can see it in this photo.

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One opportunity I looked forward to when planning my visit to ITEC 2019 was seeing and playing the new Wessex EP600. This is their new, handmade model. My understanding is that the horn is made on a different floor of the Chinese factory, and that the workers building it are trained specifically for this type of work.

As I have often said, patience is a virtue. It proved an asset at ITEC because the EP600 was delayed by a day or two. But I was able to get some time with it the day it ...

NOTE: Comments from Wisemann appear at the bottom of this review.

NOTE 2: Fletcher Mitchell, a euphonium player, gave me permission to use photos from his Facebook page of his Wiseman case. These show much better detail than my original photos. They are at the end of this blog entry, after the comments from Wiseman.

The Wiseman case at ITEC2019 was impressive in many ways but seemed like a work in progress - although a promising work. The case ...

Like Walter Matthau in "A New Leaf," we know that valves can be a problem (note: there may be a short commercial at the beginning of the video).



In Walter's case the problem was with his Ferrari, which was constantly plagued with "carbon on the valves." In our case, as brass players, it is probably something else on the valves. In both cases, the valves don't like it!

There are several possible reason for sluggish ...

Here are three videos I did specifically to help people understand the differences within the euphonium family.

• The baritone demonstrated here is a Besson 955 3-valve compensating with a .515" bore.
• The double-bell euphonium is a Holton, and it demonstrates two things. First you can hear the contrast between the bells, which in this case is about the most simple example of using the horn. But the second concept is the sound of the large bell. This is just the same as the typical American

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