Stephen introduces the Euphonium, and tells us why he loves playing it:
The euphonium is the same pitch as a Baritone Horn but looks more like a mini-Tuba.
It has the largest range of all brass instruments (up to 5 octaves) and can play really low and really high, as Stephen demonstrates.
The name “euphonium” comes from a Greek word meaning “sweet voiced” and, as Stephen demonstrates, the Euphonium has a beautiful and lyrical sound. He plays us an excerpt from the song “My Love is like a Red Red Rose” written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1794. If you would like to hear Stephen play the whole song (and we think you will!) here it is:
The Euphonium is widely used in music, including brass bands, concert bands, orchestras and military bands, and often features as a solo instrument.
Stephen’s euphonium has 4 valves, which is typical for the instrument. You can see the 4th valve half way down the front side when Stephen is playing the instrument in his introduction – he presses it with his index finger. The 4th valve lowers the pitch by 5 semi-tones (a “perfect fourth”) allowing more low notes to be played, and allowing many other notes to be played with alternate fingerings.
To find out what an octave and a perfect fourth are, see our page on Musical Intervals
Return to Introducing Brass Musical Instruments