The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos,[1] meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" (εὖ eu means "well" or "good" and φωνή phōnē means "sound", hence "of good sound"). The euphonium is a valved instrument. Nearly all current models have piston valves, though some models with rotary valves do exist.
The euphonium may be played in bass clef as a non-transposing instrument or in treble clef as a transposing instrument. In British brass bands, it is typically treated as a treble-clef instrument, while in American band music, parts may be written in either treble clef or bass clef, or both.
Contents
1 Name
2 History and development
3 Construction and general characteristics
4 Types
4.1 Compensating
4.2 Double-bell
4.3 Marching
4.4 Five valves
5 The euphonium in ensembles and professional job opportunities
6 College use in the United States
7 Notable euphonium players
7.1 United Kingdom
7.2 United States
7.3 Japan
8 Repertoire
9 See also
10 References
10.1 Explanatory notes
10.2 Citations
10.3 Sources
11 External links
Name
The euphonium is in the family of brass instruments, more particularly low-brass instruments with many relatives. It is extremely similar to a baritone horn. The difference is that the bore size of the baritone horn is typically smaller than that of the euphonium, and the baritone is a primarily cylindrical bore, whereas the euphonium is predominantly conical bore.[1] It is controversial whether this is sufficient to make them two different instruments. In the trombone family large and small bore trombones are both called trombones, while the cylindrical trumpet and the conical flugelhorn are given different names. As with the trumpet and flugelhorn, the two instruments are easily doubled by one player, with some modification of breath and embouchure, since the two have identical range and essentially identical fingering.[2] The cylindrical baritone offers a brighter sound and the conical euphonium offers a more mellow sound.
The American baritone, featuring three valves on the front of the instrument and a curved, forward-pointing bell, was dominant in American school bands throughout most of the 20th century, its weight, shape, and configuration conforming to the needs of the marching band. While this instrument is a conical-cylindrical bore hybrid, somewhere between the classic baritone horn and euphonium, it was almost universally labelled a "baritone" by both band directors and composers, thus contributing to the confusion of terminology in the United States.
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Several late 19th century music catalogs (such as Pepper and Lyon & Healy) sold a euphonium-like instrument called the "B♭ bass" (to distinguish it from the E♭ and BB♭ bass).[3][4] In these catalog drawings, the B♭ Bass had thicker tubing than the baritone; both had three valves. Along the same lines, drum and bugle corps introduced the "Bass-baritone", and distinguished it from the baritone. The thicker tubing of the three-valve B♭ bass allowed for production of strong false-tones, providing chromatic access to the pedal register.
Ferdinand Sommer's original name for the instrument was the euphonion.[5] It is sometimes called the tenor tuba in B♭, although this can also refer to other varieties of tuba. Names in other languages, as included in scores, can be ambiguous as well. They include French basse, saxhorn basse, and tuba basse; German Baryton, Tenorbass, and Tenorbasshorn; Italian baritono, bombardino, eufonio, and flicorno basso.[5] The most common German name, Baryton, may have influenced Americans to adopt the name "baritone" for the instrument, due to the influx of German musicians to the United States in the nineteenth century.[5]
