Posted by Scott Norberg on December 13, 2003 at 02:23:58:
In Reply to: Tuba/Euph Doubling posted by Bill on December 12, 2003 at 00:53:37:
I don't think I'll say much that hasn't already been said, but I'll throw in my 2 cents (if it's worth that much) anyway.
First of all, don't overplay the instrument. It takes much, much less air than the tuba. The hardest thing for me when I first started euphonium was learning how to achieve a full sound yet not use as much air as I did on tuba. It will also be tough to keep using the same amount of air on tuba once you get used to euph. Keep that in mind and you should be fine.
Secondly, you may have trouble with the high register on the euph. If you do (or even if you don't), I'd suggest practicing the low register of the instrument as much or more than the high register. The benefit you'll get from embouchure building and air control in the low register will outweigh the benefit you'll get from developing your muscles in the high register.
As far as equipment, I use euphonium equipment on euphonium and tuba equipment on tuba (i.e. I don't use "cheater" mouthpieces on euphonium-shallow mouthpieces with a wide rim). However, I've met professionals who can't do this and have great success using the "cheater" mouthpieces. There's no right answer here, but my opinion is that you'd be better off starting with a euph mouthpiece with your euphonium right away.
When I first started euphonium, I gave up tuba for a couple of weeks to really spend time with the euphonium, then gradually included both instruments in my practice. Eventually I would bring both instruments to my practice room and would practice each several times in a practice session. I'm not sure that I would recommend that method to others (mostly because it hurt my tuba playing in the short run), but if I had to do the process over again I would do the same thing.
Finally, I would suggest starting to play some difficult solos as soon as you are able. Euphonium is a much easier instrument to play than tuba, so to make up for that the solo literature for euphonium tends to be harder. You'll be expected to double and triple tongue a lot more and your fingers will be expected to move faster playing euph than what is expected from most tuba players. The faster you can start doing these things on euph the faster you'll be able to play the solos that all the other euphers do.
Scott