I'm guessing that some members here might have an idea of what a euphonium is, but for those who may not, let's just start by saying it's a tenor tuba - essentially a tuba's little brother.
Okay, with that out of the way, I've been playing this instrument for some 38 years now. (It takes that long to get it right, and I still ain't there!) I did this in the Army, too, and it was a great way to get paid to play this instrument.
Yeah, I know. It ain't a guitar and it ain't a drum set. It ain't a set of keyboards. While I like those instruments too (within reason) and when I retire for good it'll be time to really fry the brain cells by learning to play piano beyond 2-finger plinking, I happen to enjoy this instrument, what it sounds like, and what it can do.
In essence, it's the solo tenor voice of the wind ensemble, but it really rises to prominence as THE solo tenor voice in the British-style brass band. (As an aside, in the north of England, brass banding is huge and nobody does it like the Brits - but we Yanks are catching up.)
This isn't all marches and oom-pah stuff. There is some serious contemporary music going on here, most of which curls your hair when you look at it on paper. So I do this stuff after work (woodshedding at least an hour a day on both euph and bass trombone), rehearsals and gigs. Hey, it's what I do.
This particular instrument that I received yesterday, and am giving a serious tryout, is an instrument made in England by the Sterling Instrument Company:
SterlingMy current euph was also made in England, but by a different company. It has some inherent tendencies that are a problem, but are common. Sterling has been able to circumvent many of those problems, so it becomes less work and there is less fighting of the instrument itself. I can focus less on the mechanics of playing and more on the art - which is good for the listener.
Anyway, I'm excited by this and while the jury's still out, I'm going to enjoy this two-week trial period.
Maybe I'll buy the horn, maybe not. We'll see.
