Baritone, Tuba

The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonion, meaning "beautiful-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ("eu" means "well" (understood as "good") and "phonium" means "voice"). more...

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The euphonium is a valved instrument, and nearly all models are piston valved, though rotary valved models do exist.

A person who plays euphonium is sometimes called a euphoniumist or a euphonist. British euphonium players often colloquially refer to themselves as euphists. Similarly, the instrument itself is sometimes referred to as "euph."

Construction and general characteristics

The euphonium is pitched in concert B-flat (Bb), meaning that when no valves are depressed the instrument will produce partials of the B-flat harmonic series. In the United States, music for the instrument is usually written in the bass clef at concert pitch (that is, without transposition), though treble-clef euphonium parts, transposing down a major ninth, are often included in school-level concert band music for the sake of students who have recently switched from the trumpet, or who play trumpet and are doubling on euphonium. In the brass band tradition, especially in the United Kingdom, euphonium music is always written this way. In continental European music, parts for the euphonium are sometimes written in the bass clef but a major second higher than sounding pitch.

Current professional models have three top-action valves, played with the first three fingers of the right hand, plus a "compensating" fourth valve found midway down the right side of the instrument, played with the left index finger. Beginner models often have only the three top-action valves, while some intermediate "student" models may have a fourth top-action valve, played with the fourth finger of the right hand; such an instrument is shown in the above picture. Compensating systems are expensive to build, and there is in general a wide discrepancy between the costs of compensating and non-compensating models. For a thorough discussion of the valves and the compensation system, see the article on brass instruments.

The euphonium has quite an extensive range, from far below the bass clef to F six ledger lines above or even higher in professional hands, though Bb four ledger lines above the staff is an average cutoff for intermediate players. The lowest notes obtainable depend on the valve set-up of the instrument. All instruments are chromatic down to the E at the bottom of the bass staff, but 4-valve instruments can extend this somewhat further. "Compensating" instruments are chromatic into the pedal range, but "non-compensating" instruments suffer from tuning difficulties from D down to B. Below this, there is a region of obtainable notes from the first harmonic of the tube, extending from the Bb below down to a limit specified by the instrument's set-up, exactly mirroring the situation an octave higher. 4-valve "compensating" set-ups can in principle reach the B over an octave below the bass staff, and many advanced players can readily produce this note.

Read more at Wikipedia.org