davewerden

From Tempe, Arizona, in 1996. This was my last guest performance ("on the road") as a Coast Guard musician, playing Roger Kellaway's Morning Song. This piece makes a fine euphonium solo, even though it was originally written for tuba player Roger Bobo. The range is from a low E-flat to a high B-flat. The low E-flats (2 of them) are just passing notes, and could even be left out if someone tried to play this on a 3-valve euphonium. However, I suspect anyone who has the ability to play the solo will ...

Here is a tune from the Coast Guard Band's Euphonium-Tuba Quartet during a clinic at the Armed Forces School of Music. Members are Dave Werden and Dan Vinson, euphoniums; Gary Buttery and Joanna Hersey tubas. The song is from my arrangement Songs of the British Isles, which is designed to be simple enough for any decent group to play, but in which I tried to make the arrangement interesting for listeners and performers. The is the last movement, English Country Garden.


The arrangement ...

I have now posted another video on YouTube, this time of a performance during a Coast Guard Band tour. This performance is of the Fantasy for Euphonium and Brass Band by Philip Sparke. I am playing with The United Coast Guard Band's brass and percussion section, conducted by Lewis Buckley.


You can see it here: Dave Werden, Sparke Fantasy on YouTube


Or you can watch it from the video player below:

It's time I caught up to the 21st century, so I digitized one of my recordings from my Coast Guard Band days. The Band does an annual Christmas Concert (now called a Holiday Concert), and I played a solo for this one (from 1985). It was Gounod's Ave Maria, arranged by the Band's former principal clarinetist Ralph Loomis.





I'm a little new to converting VHS tapes to digital, so I think I may have gotten the aspect ratio wrong - it looks a bit too wide. But I'll ...

Franz Liszt wrote a nice piece for bass trombone and organ, which can work well with either euphonium or tuba. It is the "Hosanna" and is based on a hymn tune with simple variations. It is a rather powerful work, but is not technically challenging. I have used it in church and it worked well.


The sheet music is available here:


Liszt Hosanna


You can buy a recording of Christian Lindberg playing this and several other pieces that offer good ...