Euphonium in Popular Music

The is a re-mastered video that I originally posted a few years ago, but its aspect ratio got distorted when YouTube changed its tagging rules. The song is from the movie of the same name, which was an inspirational story about faith in God. The composer is Bruce Broughton (who was a euphonium player many years ago). He is an Academy Award winning composer (think Silverado for starters). The tune works well without the words, but I had the words project on our church's screen - that is what the ...

This is the first in a new series of posts that are about playing popular (pop, Broadway, movie music, etc.) music on the euphonium. Many times in programming a recital I have included a pop song or two. It's a nice change of pace and freshens your audience. And it is a great way to improve your sense of phrasing, which will apply to other styles of music in many ways.

This song is from "Showboat," by Jerome Kern. The song here, "Bill," is a love song describing a boyfriend who appears ...

One one of my favorite movies is "The Glenn Miller Story" starring Jimmy Stewart. First of all, it is an educational view into the life that band players went through in the 1930's and 40's. It was not an easy life! It's also a movie in which the music is very faithful to the original, having been performed mostly by Glenn Miller personnel.

But there is a scene about 2/3 of the way through the movie that will stick in a brass player's memory forever. Miller spent the first part of this ...

Here is the latest in my series of videos that might be called "Songs that Are Easy Enough for Anyone to Play, but Are Good Musical Practice." (I need to work on that title a bit, though!)

I'm sure most of you will know the song from the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz" where this song is sung by the scarecrow. As with some of the others in this series, the style is lighter than many euphonium players typically attempt. Yet it is a very important side of musical style to develop. And ...