A Euphoniumist’s Perspective on Playing the Euphonium

By Steven Cantos

If you’re a band student or have been in band yourself, you know everyone has their place in the band and has their part. Sitting in the back of the room where nearly no one in the concert hall can see me, I’m having the time of my life.

Why?

Because I play a little known instrument called the Euphonium.

A cool and weird sounding name for an instrument were just some of my thoughts when presented it in 6th grade as a little kid. Sitting their in my comfortable seat after having unsuccessfully made a noise on the flute, I knew I couldn’t go back to the trumpet. My band teacher at the time told me they had too many trumpet players and I would need to choose something else.

She told me about this instrument called the euphonium and said it was a low-brass instrument similar to a tuba. Really, all she needed to say was that it had the same valve combinations as the trumpet and I was sold. I gave it a go and found it easier to pick up than I thought it’d be so after almost no consideration for my future, I chose to play the euphonium.

But how do you even play the euphonium? Well, its pretty mechanical, really. Imagine you make a buzzing sound with your lips. Just put one cone-shaped metal mouthpiece to them and you’ve got a sound. The valves, which need plenty of oiling, are at the top on the right side and you hold the euphonium carefully by almost hugging the part on the left side so you can reach the fourth valve if there is one. The three, four, or sometimes even five valves change the pitch of the note by pressing down on them in different combinations. The more air you blow into it, the higher the notes play as long as consistent. Any faltering in your air and its going to sound like you gave up halfway through the note.

Why should I have been concerned for my future when I first started learning to play?

The euphonium is considered to be a developing modern solo instrument professionally. Invented in 1843 by Ferdinand Sommer, it was derived from two instruments called the serpent and the ophecleide which were in wide use 300 or so years before and a good century after the development of the euphonium. In 1873, a new compensating system was designed by David Blaikley in order to allow for the playing of lower notes previously thought to be nearly impossible to play. However, while these developments did add the euphonium to the concert band and British military bands, there were very few instances of solo pieces written for the euphonium from the invention in 1842 until the 1960s. That’s why most people haven’t heard of the euphonium. It really only has had sixty years to shine in the music community unless you live in England.

The euphonium has gained a modern resurgence of music composers writing specifically for it. Everything from slow-paced solos to technical and demanding concertos have and are now being written in order to showcase the benefits of the instrument in solo and concert band setting.

So should I have been more concerned?

Well, let’s just say I was lucky composers actually care to write for the euphonium nowadays.

Do I regret playing the instrument?

I’d say no. From when I was a little kid and up until recently, I had long since felt a disconnect between what I wanted to play and what i thought was available. At some points, I didn’t see what was so good about playing it mainly because for a good few years I was playing stuff that I knew for other instruments and the euphonium was more of a substitute for what we didn’t have more than anything else. But things have changed. Since I entered college, my directors have helped me appreciate what the euphonium can do both in the concert band and on its own as a solos instrument. It is with gratitude that I express my thanks to the band directors for helping me to experience the beauty that is the euphonium. It was not always something I saw myself.

Through my own experience in playing the instrument, I have developed a deep appreciation and love for the instrument. I hope that when you next hear the low-pitched, rich, dark, sound of that instrument in the back of that instrument in the back of the room, you may ask, “is that a euphonium?”