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I tried out a Jean Baptiste 4 valve euphonium yesterday. .570 bore with large shank. Nice sound to the horn, but I have this observation and a question. While playing notes in the staff (bass clef) the intonation was almost dead on. As soon as I hit Bb above the staff the horn went flat. I have no problem hitting this note, so I don't think I was pressing. I was using a Giardinelli Symphony B mouthpiece. It is deep compaired to say a Bach 4 trombone mouthpiece and has a larger throat. Is this more likely to be just a poor choice of mouthpiece for a horn of this bore size, or are my chops on euph just that weak?...or could it just be a horn with really strange intonation tendencies?

The 6th partial is naturally flat in all euponiums, so it's unusual to be going sharp there. If this is the first time you've played the horn, then you are likely the culprit. It can take some time to adjust yor air style to a new euphonium, especially if you're switching bore sizes. This can even be the case when switching fr one professional instrument to another. I'm not familiar with this brand, but even the pro euphoniums have intonation issues (hence the trigger), so if this is a cheaper model, then it very well may be the horn. Unfortunately, it's really not possible to accurately diagnose the problem without observing your playing and seeing the horn in person.

mceuph wrote:The 6th partial is naturally flat in all euponium, so it's unusual to be going sharp there.

Dr. C, are you sure you didn't transpose "sharp" and "flat"?

My understanding is that the 6th partials are usually SHARP. Certainly that was the case with the Besson New Standards/B&H Imperials and the Sovereigns. Also, isn't one of the purposes of the tuning trigger to pull the 6th partials down?

All brass instruments are sharp on the sixth partial.

Personally, I think it could be a combination of both; getting used to the horn AND possibly experimenting with a smaller mouthpiece. Do some extended playing on the horn (so you get used to it, especially if you play primarily tuba), and maybe try a couple other mouthpieces, and you may have your answer. This is also assuming that there are no leaks in the instrument and there's good air support/no embouchure issues.

Sorry, brain fart on my part. Need more sleep.

some info on them:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15093" target="_blank

Thanks everyone. In short, I need to get used to playing euphonium again. It's been over 20 yrs since I did it on a semi regular basis. Anyone that knows me knows that I will experiment with mouthpieces. I was actually shocked: the horn sounded great to me. The first couple of time I tried it in the store I wasn't impressed. This weekend, though, there were customers coming from other parts of the store to tell me how good it sounded. Maybe the 2 weeks away from tuba helped.