What is a good euphonium/piano duet I could play for church?

[Rick F]

Hi Scott,

Methodist can be traditional or praise worship... you know with guitars and (gasp) drums and saxes. I think that's what 'tubafreak' meant.

I play in church quite often... traditional worship service. For solos (with piano accomp) there are quite a number of choices. I find lots of stuff on 'Churchinstrumentalist.com'.

http://www.churchinstrumentalist.com/

If you can read treble clef, there are a lot of solos for trumpet... some with sound files you can listen to. Some of the stuff there are pieces the King's Brass plays (Dan Marvin arr mostly). There are arrangements for cello which can be good. I have a book from there called, "Faithful Cellist". There's about 3 pieces in that book I might do.

Hope this helps.

[Joe Baker]

Follow the link in the opening message in this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=6533
One of the most beautiful, evocative pieces I've heard. He did it with organ, but would also work with piano as long as the piano didn't go too nuts. I've been meaning to arrange it for euph and handbells ever since I heard it, but haven't had the time.

Another great euph solo (along the same lines as Ave Maria, but perhaps slightly more familiar to younger members) the Lord's Prayer -- lays fantastically in Bb, if you can find an arrangement or a pianist who transposes well, but any tenor arrangement will work.

If you're looking for a hymn, see if you've got "There's Just Something About That Name" or "His Eye Is On The Sparrow".

One more thought: if the church choir has the anthem "Holy, Holy, Holy/Holy Is He" (it's a medley of these two songs) I've long thought it could be adapted particularly well as a euph solo (the accompanist would have to provide one of the two melodies at the end, where the two tunes are playing as countermelodies to one another; otherwise, you'd just play either the melody or the obligato).
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Joe Baker, who thinks there are many, many good choices.

[chhite]

Another great euph solo (along the same lines as Ave Maria, but perhaps slightly more familiar to younger members) the Lord's Prayer -- lays fantastically in Bb, if you can find an arrangement or a pianist who transposes well, but any tenor arrangement will work.

There's a book available at most sheet music stores that has the Lord's Prayer in several keys to avoid this situation. Only about $15 and anyone can find a usable key.

[Joe Baker]

I believe he means that he was reading a concert-pitch treble-clef line (the soprano vocal part) rather than the usual Bb part, so a written Bb sounded like Bb rather than the usual Ab. In that sense, it was "up a step".
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-Joe Baker, who has often read from vocal parts, and thus reads concert-pitch TC better than Bb TC anyway.

[Rick F]

In the link that has highams playing "The Peace of God" (which was sounded excellent by the way,) he said that he was reading off the part and up a tone. Is this the same as saying that he was looking at was what on a page, and going up a whole step on every note?

Like the others said, Highams (or Charley) was transposing the notes up a whole step as he played it. If you're used to reading treble clef, this is a good way to play anything in your church's hymnal when the piano is accompanying you. Some think of it as a whole step, I play the note above what's written and drop 2 flats from (or add 2 #'s to) the key signature. I'm playing "Bless This House" (by May Brahe & Helen Taylor) in a couple of weeks in church and my copy of this is written for voice in Eb. I'm playing it if F.

Hope this helps.

[Joe Baker]

No, as a Bass Clef player, you already play in concert-pitch, so you would play a Treble Clef 'C' as a 'C', just as you always have. But a Treble Clef player would look at that 'C' in a TC euph part and play a note that he would CALL a 'C', but it would be a concert Bb (just like a trumpet player). When that TC euph player picks up a vocal part, which is in concert pitch, he has to look at that 'C' and play what he CALLS a 'D' -- "up a tone" -- but it's the same note you'd call a 'C'.
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Joe Baker, who thinks this is all much harder to explain than to do.

[Joe Baker]

Exactly.
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Joe Baker, who probably made it sound complicated when it's really as easy as "read off the page".

[Lyle]

Try;
1. "The lord's prayer"
2. "O Devine Redeemer"- Gounod
3. "The Holy City"
4. I have used airs from the Messiah with great success.
5. Anything popualr for vocal solo works. I feel any vocal solo is fair game for euphonium.

[Rick F]

"The Lord's Prayer" is one of my favorite pieces to play in church. I like it in concert Bb. Everyone knows the words of course too.

Another good piece is, "How Great Thou Art" (Swedish folk melody).

[Rick F]

Scott,

You could probably find "The Lord's Prayer" in any music store that normally sells sheet music. The copy I have is for voice in Bb. When I purchased mine, there were many copies in about 3 different keys because it's so popular as a vocal solo.

I also found a copy here you can purchase online:

SibeliusMusic "The Lord's Prayer"
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/sh ... storeid=-1

You need to have 'Scorch' software loaded on your PC to see the music (free download link offered there as well). You can change the key before download it.

Hope this helps.