more annoying "so what if 99% of people disagree with me?" bloke opinions

[bloke]

1/ Playing the baritone horn is easy.

After playing back-to-back-to-back-to (etc.) gigs for a week, I picked up a bunch of cooties, and - doing my Christmas eve rehearsal today, this chest cold and sinusitis defined that I had to really focus to play the BIG BB-flat tuba (quarter notes, eighth notes, and donuts - Willcocks/Anglican carol settings et al) well...

...but there was one of those overly-busy (also Anglican) Webster carol settings (bass trombone range) which I typically cover on the "euphonium" (double/triple tonguing, wide range, etc.). This instrument has not seen the light of day in several months, and nor just prior to this rehearsal. They omitted it from the emailed pdf, I didn't KNOW that I needed the euphonium but (re: "church gig") I threw it in the trunk...just in case. OK...YES...I needed it, so I went back out to the car, brought it in and set it next to my stand in front of me. It was time to rehearse it...I didn't hear them mumble what the next tune was (stopped up ears...again: I'm sick). I barely picked it up off the floor in time, and played through the chart as well as if I would have hoped a recording of it would have gone. Good sound...good tuning...good execution...hey, maybe (??) even a bit of "music".
yes: EASY (no...not those "theme and variation" solos from over a century ago...nor any of those more recently-written show-off pieces played at universities and service band concerts...That stuff is HARD, but - IN GENERAL: EASY...oh yeah: and Morceau Symphonique: easy.

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2/ Meinl-Weston euphoniums (albeit rare) play in tune as well as any of them.

These instruments are - just about - no longer manufactured, but they'll build you one - at the B&S factory in Markneukirchen - on special order:
( https://store.weinermusic.com/products/ ... lver-751-s )
Ever since the Edgware Rd. Besson/Boosey factory shuttered (decades ago), euphoniums labeled "Besson" (considerably smaller and more Besson-like than the Meinl-Weston comp. euphoniums they had previously been producing) have been made at the B&S plant (as well as Chino-bessons in the Wisemann plant), so the Meinl-Weston euphonium tooling - at B&S - is collecting dust. Further (re: M-W euphonium reputation for "bad intonation"), the slides were all different (shorter - requiring much more pull) on the M-W euphoniums, so most people who tried them decided that they play "out of tune" (ie. worse than the other makes do), but - when the slides are all pulled out a good bit (to particular ideal spots, obviously) - the rarely-encountered M-W euphoniums play as well in tune as any, and - with their huge bell (top-to-bottom) and overall length, they can actually be rested in most player's laps, and the bell offers (for those of us who particularly are looking for something like that...ie. doublers) much more of a "tuba" type of sound. ...again: no trigger gadgetry required, and these only ask for one alternate - a 3rd valve G.

bloke "but what do I know?" (nuthin'. ) ...hey...but I do make a little bit of money playing this thing, so...



...and yes, that's an extra-large mouthpiece which does quite well covering bass trombone and French tuba parts...For playing actual "euphonium" parts, there's a Wick SM-something-or-other mouthpiece in the case as well...and yeah: the camera doesn't lie; this particular instrument is made of "gold" brass.

[MiBrassFS]

1/ Playing the baritone horn is easy.

Indeed. The saxophone of the brass family. Also easy to sound bad on.

2/ Meinl-Weston euphoniums (albeit rare) play in tune as well as any of them.

Indeed. Of course, none of them are in tune unless they’re played in tune.

“I bet it’s the bloke, not just the plumbing.”

[gocsick]

1/ Playing the baritone horn is easy.

I think it is very easy to be a mediocre euphonium/American baritone horn player. I should know because I am one.

Really good euphonium players... I think are free and far between. It takes a special kind of person to put that much effort into an instrument with even less professional opportunities than tuba.

[bloke]

again...
I'm no "soloist" with the baritone horn/"euphonium", but (though I've shown myself to be a competent "soloist" with the tuba), there's no money to be made doing that...so I'm a check-chasin' tuba "accompanist" (aka orchestral/quintet/etc. player), and the same goes for the euphonium.

euphonium band parts (other than a handful - which would require me to sit up and practice)...I wouldn't get kicked out of most bands...though (for playing the thing for two hours) I'd actually have to "practice". That having been said...There are plenty of others who can do that as well, and they're all glad to do it gratis.

...I'm no where near foolish enough to view myself as any sort of championship level brass band or military band euphonium "soloist" (I'll leave the super lickety-split and "absolutely amazing tone" - and vibrato - stuff to the guys with the metal buttons, wool coats, and epaulettes), but I can play ensemble parts and keep the tuning between the ditches...and (again) it's easier (with which to play their parts in "ensemble" pieces) than the tuba...

...and Meinl-Weston euphoniums (though most people today don't even know they were once produced) don't deserve any sort of bad rap.

[MiBrassFS]

My knowledge of these is limited to having played them when they came out at shows and at a big box store in the 1990’s. Liked them enough, but didn’t buy one. I had already bought an HB, so it was good enough. Still have it. However…

I have a friend who at last word is a local to me police sergeant. He went to school for music ed at one of the bigger universities in the state and had one. He had to sell his stuff off early in his police career. Every so often he stops by in his police car and uniform (talk of the neighborhood…). He used to have a patrol Harley which was even more fun! Anyway, I can’t tell you how many times he’s told me that if he ever hits the lotto (and stops having kids…) he’s going to buy all his stuff back including his MW euphonium. Every time I see one for sale I point it out to him. If I hit the lotto, I’m going to gift him one.

[bloke]

I have a Hirsbrunner that's been sitting around for ages unplayable. I bought it for a few hundred dollars because almost all of the valves and slides and caps were missing. I have to assume (??) that it was some mishap whereby some cleaning person must have thrown away the parts because and (I'm just guessing) maybe they were sitting on a piece of cardboard or something on top of a wastebasket. At that time, Peter still had all of the parts in stock and sold them all to me. I've just never spent the two or three days it would take to fit all of them to the instrument as they would need to be fitted. This was an early version and the valve section was Nirschl made. It also featured the three different receivers. I have since acquired the two that it didn't have.

The bell of this instrument is more of a standard size bell, whereas the M-W bell is just huge - top to bottom.

No one please send me any messages about selling it or selling it as is or anything. I would really like to get this thing put together, play it, and evaluate it for myself. I'm particularly curious, because the basic Adams is supposedly virtually the same instrument.

[MiBrassFS]

Mine is of that era and has, I think, the same valves as on yours. Peter Jr./Peter Sr. made two versions, small bell and large bell. Mine is the large bell version. It swallers the DW mutes up whole. Mine was made while Peter Sr. was still active. I assume yours was as well. I seem to remember the numbers as 379/479 and in the US HBE and HBE-LB respectively, iirc.

True story… when Peter Jr. told Fred he was changing the euphs (valve source was changing, Peter Sr. had retired…), Fred offered to let me come in and try the new versions. It wasn’t because he wanted to do me any favors (although, he was as nice as he got to me…). I was later told that Earle Louder wanted my horn. His was the same version/era and getting to the point where he was considering replacing it! I tried the new ones and, to Fred’s great disappointment and consternation, I kept mine.

I have an Adams E3 sitting here and the HB and the Adams are really close… very, very similar.

[Finetales]

Euphonium is easy. It's one of those things that a few players will insist against but most people understand that it's true, just like the saxophone. Furthermore, it is my opinion that euphonium solo repertoire is so much more difficult/virtuosic than any other brass repertoire (except for a few trumpet show pieces written for specific world-class players like Sergei Nakariakov or Håkan Hardenberger) BECAUSE the euphonium is easy. I guess when you don't have to fight the instrument at all, you might as well have to play really fast at least.

Euphonium being so easy also shoots euphonium players in the foot, as trombone players can quite easily play it well once they know the fingerings, so there is almost never a reason to hire a euphonium specialist outside of a military band or British brass band.

I also really liked the Meinl-Weston euphoniums I've tried in the past. Easy to play, nice sound, no complaints.

[bloke]

Euphonium is easy. It's one of those things that a few players will insist against but most people understand that it's true, just like the saxophone. Furthermore, it is my opinion that euphonium solo repertoire is so much more difficult/virtuosic than any other brass repertoire (except for a few trumpet show pieces written for specific world-class players like Sergei Nakariakov or Håkan Hardenberger) BECAUSE the euphonium is easy. I guess when you don't have to fight the instrument at all, you might as well have to play really fast at least.

Euphonium being so easy also shoots euphonium players in the foot, as trombone players can quite easily play it well once they know the fingerings, so there is almost never a reason to hire a euphonium specialist outside of a military band or British brass band.

I also really liked the Meinl-Weston euphoniums I've tried in the past. Easy to play, nice sound, no complaints.

This...and regardless of whether-or-not they give a thumbs-up to M-W euphoniums.

[bloke]

Mine is of that era and has, I think, the same valves as on yours. Peter Jr./Peter Sr. made two versions, small bell and large bell. Mine is the large bell version. It swallers the DW mutes up whole. Mine was made while Peter Sr. was still active. I assume yours was as well. I seem to remember the numbers as 379/479 and in the US HBE and HBE-LB respectively, iirc.

True story… when Peter Jr. told Fred he was changing the euphs (valve source was changing, Peter Sr. had retired…), Fred offered to let me come in and try the new versions. It wasn’t because he wanted to do me any favors (although, he was as nice as he got to me…). I was later told that Earle Louder wanted my horn. His was the same version/era and getting to the point where he was considering replacing it! I tried the new ones and, to Fred’s great disappointment and consternation, I kept mine.

I have an Adams E3 sitting here and the HB and the Adams are really close… very, very similar.

I should take my Wick mute out to the shop...
It's probably the only really easy/visual way to "measure" euphonium bells that I have.

[MiBrassFS]

I know, it’s kind of goofy, but it’s usually how I gauge how big a euph bell is… I use the practice version…

[MikeMason]

I’ve got the same Schmidt euphonium bloke has, minus some slide lengthening he did to his. He gave me the tubes but I never had the work done. I was hoping to use it on some high orchestral solos, but never did. Anyone want it?