Euphonium Players... where are you?

Gorilla Tuba · Post by **Gorilla Tuba** » Sat May 29, 2004 11:11 am

I have spent a great deal of time looking for a very good euphonium player for my studio. In scouring East Kansas, west Missouri, and some of Northern Oklahoma, I just can't find one. I don't mean I can't attract one to my school, I mean I can't find any to recruit. Maybe they run when they see me coming with my checkbook in hand! My collegues at other universities in the same area report the same problems.

My question is this: is there a shortage of good euphonium players everywhere? Or is it that they all go to North Texas? What's up?

Luckily I have a few incoming Freshman that have potential, but I was really looking for an immediate impact player.

I think the problem may be literature related. Bands that mostly play grade 3 music never give the euphonium a chance to be challenged. It seems that most band music treats the euph as a bad trumpet player that switched. It is not until bands play grade 4+ music do the euph parts become melodic and independent from the tuba or trombone sections.

Short of writing a bunch of band music with good euph parts (I am not a composer), what can be done to reshape the culture of euphonium players at the high school level? Please guide me!

CJ Krause · Post by **CJ Krause** » Sat May 29, 2004 12:34 pm

smurphius · Post by **smurphius** » Sat May 29, 2004 12:41 pm

indeed euphonium players are hard to come by. what i think saddens me most about it, is just how lucky euphonium players can often be in playing great literature. as a tuba player, thinking of a standard sousa march, i'd be playing a very standard sousa tuba part. little bit of glitz and glam here but mainly the dreaded oomp (pah) oomp (pah) [although we all know the horns have the pah]. the euphonium however has such beautiful counter melodies so much of the time. quite enough to make a tubist jealous. of course this does bleed over into other band repertoire as well. much seems to be the same with frech horn too. tuba, trombone, and trumpet players are pretty easy to come by. horn players and euphers, well, good luck with that.

as i think onward about this topic, today's upcoming brass players have a lot of great brass literature to listen to. probably the most influential music (other than jazz) on me and my studies has been the brass quintet. canadian brass, st. louis brass quint, empire brass, manhattan brass quintet, atlantic brass quintet, and dallas brass are all very prominent groups that i've listened to and i'm sure many other young folk have too. one thing that is the same between every single one of those groups though: no euphonium. now this definately not the whole problem as to a lack of euphonium players, but quite possibly i think it could contribute.

and worst yet... what would tuba christmas be without someone to play the soprano part?!

The Impaler · Post by **The Impaler** » Sat May 29, 2004 2:01 pm

Doug,

Speaking as a euphoniumist (and a 7 month old tubist), AND a band director, my response to you would be check out Texas. Yes, I'm biased and I know that quality euphoniumists come out of surrounding states, but the sheer numbers of young euphoniumists here demands that there's going to be quite a few good ones. And ALL of them can't go to North Texas. I've got a great young student here, who's going to be a senior, has already bought his own euph (MW 451), and is probably going to look to major in music.

Right now I'm steering him towards Texas Tech, with Kevin Wass doing such a magnificent job up there and building that studio up in the short time that he's been there. However, I would love for you to contact him and talk about college. When Universities compete for the best young kids around, everyone wins, ESPECIALLY the students!!! So, I guess what I'm saying is recruit a little farther away and tap into our great resource pool down here. It's a win-win situation both ways. Best of luck!

TonyTuba · Post by **TonyTuba** » Sun May 30, 2004 10:48 am

If you want good euphonium players, you have to build them yourself. being in the business, you already know the answers to your questions. I would suggest starting a brass band for the kids in your area. Euph parts are great in a brass band, and there is nothing better for devloping young brass players than a british brass band.