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Band Directors Talk Shop

Intermediate Euphonium (TBA Archives)

8 Mar
teaching euphonium

If you would like to improve your teaching of intermediate euphonium, this post is for you!

The TBA Archives refer to the Texas Bandmasters Association archives of clinic handouts from past conventions.  Conventions are one of  the best ways to learn new things, spark new ideas, ask questions and be inspired.  The only problem is all of that new knowledge is thrown at us in about a 48 hour window and it’s hard to retain much of it.

The TBA archives are a great on-line resource that can be beneficial to use (when you have time) to remind you of things you learned at conventions. It can also give you some ideas you may have missed out on if you weren’t able to attend convention.

In these posts on BandDirectorsTalkShop.com we will choose a clinic handout that can give you good ideas even without the actual presentation. We’ll highlight a few great quotes we noticed and give you the link to the full handout. Clinicians spend a lot of time preparing the handouts and they can be a wonderful resource if they don’t get lost in a pile on your desk. I will try not to comment or analyze because I don’t want to misinterpret the clinician’s meaning.

Today’s Highlighted Clinic:
Intermediate Euphonium
by Joe Pruitt

teaching euphonium

Mr. Pruitt mentions SO many (hundreds) of specific points, it was hard to pick my favorites.
But here goes:

  1. Posture: The instrument is brought to the embouchure, not the upper body moving to the instrument.
  2. Breathing: Breathe to the bottom of the chair.
  3. Voicing: Shaping the inside of the mouth and throat; must be cavernous
  4. Associative learning: Associate how a note sound and feels at the same time
  5. Tonguing: Place tongue tip (not top) to the point of articulation and hold there while inhaling on preparatory beat. Keep tongue soft and allow the air to move tongue back to resting position. Tongue movement is a result of the air movement.
  6. Tone Quality:
    Problem – Tight, closed sound
    a)Lips too close together
    b) Teeth closed
    Solution –
    a) Yawn
    b) Feeling of holding wet Nerf Bell in back of throat
    c) Vibrato exercise
  7. Hints for upper range: He lists 6 including aim air stream downward in the mouthpiece and less upper lip pressure
  8. Two enemies of the wind musician:
    1) Lack of mental focus
    2) Creeping tension

You can find the entire handout (7 pages of wonderful information) here.

We hope this post helps your intermediate euphonium players improve their skills!

Brass instrument resources for your band program

Related Reading:
Teach Like Your Hair is On Fire! (TBA Archives)
Motivate Your Band – Countdown to Contest
A Note Before a Rest… (Quick Tip)

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Band Directors Talk Shop is all about helping you be a better band director so your students can be better musicians.  It is a collaborative effort of band directors, former band directors, private lesson teachers and fine arts administrators. Learn.  Posts will strive to teach you something you can use in your classroom today. ... Read More about About Us

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