Cleaning/Maintenance
Professional Euphonium
Players to Check Out
David Childs
David Childs is a world-renowned euphonium soloist that comes from a heritage of euphonium/brass playing. He is a soloist with many brass bands/concert bands and is known for his incredible technique, finesse, and singing tone.
Demondrae Thurman
Demondrae Thurman is an international soloist with many colleges and bands around the world. He has a very round, full tone while still having a lot of technical facility to catch the audience's ear. Listen for his beautiful shaping of musical lines, smooth technique, and clear tone.
Steven Mead
Steven Mead is an international soloist originally based out of the UK. He also plays with many brass bands, performs solo recitals, and always looks to inform listeners to about pieces he plays. Listen for his fantastic flexibility across the range of the instrument and beautiful musicality.
Professional Tuba
Players to Check Out
Øystein Baadsvik is a Norwegian tuba player, but a famous soloist all over Europe and the world. He is known for his humorous performances as well as incredible technique on the tuba.
Carol Jantsch is the principal tuba for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and she is a soloist all across the U.S. Her tuba sound is pure, powerful, as well as delicate. Listen to how she shapes each individual notes and uses her smooth sound to make technical parts sound very easy.
Chris Olka is the former principal tuba of the Seattle Symphony, but now the principal tuba for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Not only is he a phenomenal tuba player in the orchestra, he also puts out videos for warm-ups, technique/tone exercises, flexibility, and more. Enjoy!
Instrument Step Up Links
Mouthpieces
An easy and fairly inexpensive way to sound instantly better on Euphonium/Tuba is to upgrade your mouthpiece. Most students start on a Bach 12C, but after the first year, the students have quickly grown out of that mouthpiece and need an upgrade.
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Yamaha, Schilke, and Bach are more common euphonium mouthpiece makers. Tubas can look into Conn-Helleberg as well as the makers above.
Students should look into upgrading to one of these mouthpieces:
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Euphonium​ **check instrument bore size before purchasing**​
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Yamaha 51 (even larger cup, more full tone) Small Bore Large Bore
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Bach 6 1/2 AL (large) or 5G (even larger) Small Bore Large Bore
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Schilke 51D Small Bore Large Bore
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Tuba
Step-up Instruments
Purchasing or renting a step-up euphonium or tuba is a large investment. Normally, schools (high schools & colleges) will have better quality instruments than at the middle school level.
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If you are interested in purchasing a step-up instrument, I would highly recommend these that you keep in mind the following pieces of information:
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You Get What You Pay For!! If you pay cheap, you will probably get cheap quality.
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Euphonium- Always find one with 4 valves. If is a compensating 4th valve (the 4th valve is on the side of the instrument), that is the standard practice.
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Good brands for Euphonium/Tuba: Yamaha (always), Jupiter, Miraphone, Meinl-Weston.
Be sure to play test!
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Before purchasing an instrument/mouthpiece, always consult with your music teacher or private instrument instructor!!!
