Euphonium harness?

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Joe Baker
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Post by Joe Baker »

Is that an upright euph, or a marching (trumpet-on-steroids style) baritone?

If it's a marching baritone, I think something like this would work (forgive the primitive drawing)
Image

The idea is to use straps to hold a plate over the player's sternum (less affected by breathing than the abdomen, less affected by marching than the belt-buckle region). Attach some sort of rod to the baritone to support the weight, so that the left hand just "swings" it up to the embouchure. The attachment at the horn should pivot forward and back, but not side to side. That will also allow the player to do a "horns up/horns down" movement, and allow some control over the pressure at the chops.

At the other end, it should "plug into" the plate, but the plate should limit the forward/downward movement of the rod. Some assistance may be requred to get the horn attached to the plate, but from there on the player should do fine.

Good luck!
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Lew
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Post by Lew »

Could the Meinl-Weston tuba harness be made to work with a euphonium, or is there a smaller version for a euph? If so, I think that this would work for a standard baritone horn, although probably not with a marching horn.

http://www.wwbw.com/Meinl-Weston-Tuba-S ... 8898.music
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Post by jacobg »

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Joe Baker
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Post by Joe Baker »

Wow... yeah... like that...

Image

I'm wondering if I've seen this somewhere or another, and just forgotten about it (consciously, anyway). I don't REMEMBER ever seeing this before...
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windshieldbug
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Post by windshieldbug »

One of the gig bag case makers might whip you something up. Maybe you could experiment with something to start with, like a velcro strap from a case or backpack...

Now that I think about it, maybe a backpack is what you need, put on backwards, trimmed a little at the top. They come in a variety of colors, so you could find something appropriate!
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Dan Schultz
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Post by Dan Schultz »

I have a Meinl-Weston harness and think it might be a bit heavy duty for a euph... but a Blue Note Strap might be an good alternative. Cheaper, too!
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Post by CrappyEuph »

I once used a saxophone neck strap with my Yamaha 642. A 321 is lighter, so it might work even better. A harness-style strap (popular with bari sax players) would probably be best, but I used a regular neck strap.

I don't know the extent to which your student can use his right arm, but if he can wrap his arm around the instrument and hold on to it loosely, it should work.
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