I started out playing trumpet, then switched to euphonium, then baritone, back to trumpet and euphonium, and now Eb alto, my response to “what that?” has always been “tiny tuba”
actually a really good in-depth video about this topic! Great work! One small addendum about flugelhorns, they're actually used massively in the Netherlands and Belgium as the 'main' instrument of the typical band style there, the 'fanfare orchestra', the same way brass bands have cornets and concert bands have clarinets. This band type also traditionally uses baritones like in brass bands, but over the past 30-odd years they have been replaced almost completely by euphoniums too because of the reasons you named in the video, which in fact creates an issue in the overall sound of the band (euphoniums just don't blend as well with (alto/tenor/french)horns and trombones as baritones do). Luckily there are still some bands (including mine) that have kept true to the original instrumentation.
12:30 Apparently, I have been playing this for the past 5 years and I always thought it was a weird baritone but just slightly different, not quite fitting with either baritone or euphonium, and the band director seemed confused with it as well. Knowing this is different makes me feel a lot better, and after some research I found some people apparently call it a baritonium, so now I just tell people I play baritonium and nobody understands what I am saying, its quite funny. Ty for this video!
As a trombonist, I believe we don't see many superbones out there because trombonists typically see valves as cheating when playing fast. Good trombonists don't need a valve section, they can just tongue fast enough. They are seen as unnecessary and dumb.
Excellent exposition here! Well done from an old euphoniumist! I thought the GD inserted to the last "Wessex also makes these" was particularly appropriate! I really enjoyed this. I was also pleased with the mention of Trent's channel. He really talks funny with his Kiwi vowel fornications, but he has some really interesting and totally weird things. Good job! Oh yeah - and having the Holst playing in the background was perfect. Some of my absolute favorite music - which, of course, makes wonderful use of our previous euphonia!
Damn kid, you are a walking encyclopedia, much respect My GF is bringing home her Grand Fathers double bell Euphonium from Kansas later this month for me to restore
The euphonium is a glitch in the simulation. It doesn't exist for everybody. Some people say the word 'euphonium' is not recognized by spell-checkers. Fact Check: all spell-checkers recognize euphonium. These same people claim they live in a universe where euphoniums exist in several configurations instead of the international standard version that was developed 350 years ago. The craziest theory is the Tuba Mandela Effect where people swear they've seen and heard a euphonium but they actually have not because their universe only has tubas.
6:23 after randomly looking at the history of marching instruments one day and coming back to this video, turns out that Bb/F marching instruments were made in tandom with the G types in the 70s. Companies like Dynasty and Getzen wanted to expand their market beyond drum corps and market also towards colleges and highschool marching bands. They did this by manipulating some of their instruments in the factories, adding valves and of course changing keys.
Okay, now you've upset me, flügelhorns DO NOT have bad intonation. I think most people think this(like I used to) because in most highschool bands, the flügels are really crappy cheap ones. They are harder to play then the trumpet for sure, but quality flügelhorns have no intonation problems and are really pleasant to play. Especially good German rotary valve ones.
Good work in general, but there are a few glaring errors. I will try to correct a few of them: - Euphoniums are really just tenor-pitched tubas; they are in the same family and have the same bore profile (degree of conicity). Anyone who thinks that the euphonium is NOT in the same family as tubas is wrong. - In the American Civil War, the military bands used by the Union Army (and to a lesser degree by Confederate Army bands) were comprised of brass instruments exclusively of the Saxhorn type, which has a bore profile wider than a baritone and less conical than a euphonium. I have never seen anyone or any source refer to any Civil War brass instruments as "euphoniums", and that is because they were not in use in such bands. Indeed, what we call a "euphonium" today did not even exist during this period. The instrument that is shown in this video under the description of "Over the Shoulder Euphonium" is in fact an Over the Shoulder Saxhorn. Some, but not all, modern true "baritones" are types of Saxhorns, but many others are not. This is easy to verify, since the Saxhorn family uses two slightly different bore profiles, defined in the patent, and simple measurements of any horn in question can be compared to the patent to see of that instrument is or is not a Saxhorn. - The instrument with the forward angled bell that is being called "American Euphonium" is actually what is called an "American Baritone". Its bore is rather Saxhorn like without quite being a Saxhorn, and is wider than true baritones yet not as wide as euphoniums. These are virtually always three valve instruments. They were designed to provide an inexpensive, easy to carry, forward projecting, light weight 'baritone voice' brass instrument, and were quire popular with school bands. By today's definitions, they are neither baritones nor euphoniums. - The instrument with the oval body and bell curving off to one side is the German "Bariton". While there is some confusing variation in nomenclature between manufacturers and musicians, these are mostly NOT a kind a euphonium, but for the most part are more euphonium than they are baritone. They are great for certain types of music, and are widely used in German "oom pah" bands, but they are a poor substitute for a euphonium since they don't deliver the same quality of sound.
Amazing video. I'm a woodwind player and have always been confused about the euphonium and the history and multifaceted nature of all the instruments you talked about. Love the shirt btw! :)
I was actually given a euphonium in middle school because I was too small to play the baritone. I ended up switching to baritone in HS but I always just tell people I played baritone the whole time, a lot less questions asked that way 😅
That doesn’t make sense… Euphonium is bigger than baritone and people usually begin with baritone when they’re small and later when they’ve grown they switch to euphonium. Are you sure you didn’t switch up the names?
anytime someone asks me '"what is that" and i tell them and they have NO idea.....i then say......it's a miniature tuba....then the response is always "OH".......and i play the BARITONE not the Euphonium....lol and i have a removable bell....and it's 75 years old....it sounds incredible!!!
When you said there isn't a double bell baritone, you were kind of correct in the since that there is no double bell with the main bell being a baritone. Every double bell euphonium I have played has sounded and felt like a baritone to me when playing through the second bell so I would personally consider the double bell euphonium and double bell baritone the same instrument. Also Wessex makes a brand new double bell as well and it is genuinely fantastic.
13:26 The composer Paul Hindemith wrote a beautiful sonata for Althorn. Please check out the first movement performed by „Anneke Scott“ on RU-vid! She plays it on a forward facing Althorn looking like a bigger flugelhorn.
My high school for some reason had four or five altoniums. When we discovered them in the corner of the locker room my band director was quite disappointed.
I played this to learn a bit as my son is starting to play the euphonium in band this year, but it turned out to be one of the most educational and humorous videos I've seen in a while, and those are two of the genres I watch the most. Well done!
Great video and research! I sincerely hope you get more subscribers and you continue talking about brass instruments because you have great potential and I also really like your humour. Loved the plastic euphonium and the Tuba band plastic edition videos too.
I still play my 2-valve, G-keyed, baritone bugle in a marching band. Not having a 3rd valve is beyond frustrating, especially since I'm the one who has to arrange the parts for the corps and must write around the fact that we can't hit certain notes.
Very informative and well-researched. I love the pictures of those weird vintage instruments (I am a collector myself). I used to play Cornet, Trumpet, then Tuba, then Euphonium. Now I play French Horn but also have a vintage Ophicleide (but did you know Wessex also makes them?) that I play for fun. You are right when you say it sounds especially good in the higher register.
The Marching Euphonium did not come from the tenor bugle. They were completely different instruments. The Tenor bugle wasn’t even a tenor pitched instrument. It had the same exact length of tubing as any other G Soprano bugle at the time, with the only difference being that the Tenor bugle had a much bigger bore and bell, causing the sound to be much fuller. Later on, the baritone bugle was invented, and it was a true baritone voiced bugle, a whole octave below the Soprano. This however was still extremely cylindrical and had a small bell as pictured at 6:19 The “Bass-Baritone” went on to be a real Baritone Bugle, it had a slightly larger bore than a concert baritone, and usually had a bell flare and size similar to a concert baritone. In the late 50’s and 60’s, horn instructors wanted more color so the first G/D/F Valve/Rotor Euphoniums were made by Smith Music Sales and Whaley Royce. They obviously evolved to be changed to G/F/F#, then had two piston valves, three piston valves, and now are replaced with modern Bb Marching Euphoniums.
I have one remark about the Tornister tuba. As you mentioned, it also comes in the key of b-flat. However, having that type of tuba as the foundation of your orchestra isn't working (at least to me), due to it's small size. I myself am the proud owner of a Conn 25J, a large bore (0.773") instrument with a 23.62 inch or 60 cm bell. And believe me, the sound of it is just beyond fabulous. I'm able to literally give a broad bass-sound with ease. In my opinion a Tornister tuba is nice as a practice instrument in a hotel room. Easy to carry, but that's practically all.
So sorry I have to say it, but 5 Valve "Euphoniums" are not Euphoniums, they are bass Saxhorns, invented by adolf sax himself (flugelhorns are soprano saxhorns), and that have cylindrical tubing and not conical and have a longer 3rd valve tube, I'm a saxhorn Play
As a sousaphone and BBb Tuba player I can agree fully with what you say and it absolutly kills your shoulder if you have it on for more than a few hours.
My school system had a bass trumpet, and everyone who played it loved it. I only got to play it on our middle school "jazz band" shows, and for a day or two before each show (to get used to it). I would have loved to keep it instead of my baritone. I honestly don't remember why (40+ years ago). After watching this, I wonder if it was actually a bass trumpet or one of the other similar horns you showed.
I played the sousaphone for a few years in high school, that's probably where my current back pain comes from. We had the fiberglass ones but they were still heavy.
Great research. Thank you for making this. Drum corps didnt use the Bb back in the day but they did exist. The one I played in 1990 looked old even then. I ran across a little more about the origin of the marching euphonium here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IW3-oazhKYA.htmlsi=nLh20BtebxLGEzWO
Often left out of the Eurocentric history of brass instruments is Allen Dodworth. An American bandsman that had a family of conical bore instruments made for his band in the 1840s before Adoloh Sax named them after himself.
The German style euphonium/Kaiser baritone looks suspiciously like a Wagner tuba (more of a French horn variant with _some_ tuba characteristics, despite the name). How do you tell them apart?
As curiosity, the alto-horn/tenor-horn/alto euphonium... in some regions of Spain is called "ONOBEN". Nobody knows why this strange word, some people thinks that its a mispronunciation to Spanish of the english/german words "horn Eb".
The story I heard is that the flugelhorn, alto and baritone horns were all developed together as part of the Saxhorn family. The soprano saxhorn eventually replaced the older instrument that used to be called a flugelhorn and took over the name. Sax horns are characterized by modest to moderate flare, except for the flugelhorn which needed stronger flare to distinguish the tone from the cornet. The euphonium actually is a tenor tuba, having the same flare in the tubing but in a smaller size. Next, maybe you could do a video on circular instruments. They start with the valved posthorn, which is a Bb soprano instrument, but what intermediate steps are there on the way to the French horn and sousaphone?
Great job ! Very extensive landscape of todays Euphonium world. May I add that instrument makers have always tended to use the most innovative technology of their time : wood technology was at its best in Stradivarius time, and it is no wonder that a Belgian instrument maker ( Adolphe Sax) used the locomotive valve and piston technology to make « easily transposing » brass instruments : Belgium had the first railway infrastructure when it was the first or second economy in the World. And there is another thing to consider : during the XIXth century, armies were developing in Europe, and had « competitions » outside wars : they would show up their armies in musical marches - a tradition kept in the UK and USA. But at that time hey lacked Bass instruments… Bassoons were uncomfortable on horse, - less than double basses though… - and horns weren’t chromatic in their bass register. So they ( I mean Sax), who was born in a metalwork dedicated part of Belgium, used the industry piston and valves technology to built the chromatic Bass brass instruments showing-up European armies needed ! At that time they had « military music (and drill) demonstrations » all over Europe to build up their Nations reputation, and big brass ensemble were part of the popular success - and fear- induced. Composers -like Wagner- even asked for specific brass instruments and tones, something they could not obtain from the more traditional string instruments.
I love this thanks! I play uk tenor/alto horn in a brass band and have a few others which took a while to name....one came out of a junk shop....I love them all
Bravo! Finally, someone gets it right! Well done. Found myself laughing more and more toward the end. Still playing my euphonium in band twice a week since 1968 (Besson New Standard)
