There comes a time when you almost give in but somehow you get that extra burst of energy that helps you reach beyond your plateau! I had that breakthrough last night! I probably spent over 14 hours practicing my horn today and still want to continue but for now my lips and brain need rest. The pictures on this post are from my practice log these past couple of days. My inspiration has come from listening to and reading about Rafael Mendez. You'll notice his approach to playing in my notes. Go practice!

I am very fortunate to have a great friends who have a wide variety of skills, one of them being my great friend Randy Morrison! One of his hobbies is woodworking and he has spectacular craftsmanship. The project he is mainly working on is making handy items for alumni out of the old music building from Texas A&M University-Commerce. He posted a lot of his different works including: a clarinet stand, a flute stand, frames, ornaments, and pens. I approached Randy about crafting a euphonium stand for me and he did it with professionalism. Randy himself is a Tubist and he was overjoyed throughout the whole process. Now one thing I want to point out is he used wood that he purchased from Lowe's seeing as I am not an "Old Music Building" Alum. Either way the euphonium stand is a great work that will protect my bell from my practice room floors. I am happy! Thanks again Randy!

 

Goodbye 2011!

I want to thank all of my family, friends, and teachers that have helped me over the past year.  It was really quite a learning experience and it is always good to know I have people backing me up!  2011 was definitely a challenge for me.  I experienced a lot of new things which really improved myself as a person.  The following is a list of my accomplishments and experience which I could not have done without your support!  Thank you!

My accomplishments of 2011:

-Became a euphonium performance major

-Symbiosis Duo Duet Competition 1st Prize with Jason Casanova

-President Scholars Award for my first semester of college

-Fall 2011 Mock Audition Winner Texas A&M University-Commerce

-L3 Communications Achievement Award

-Pride Magazine Article

-Certificate of Appreciation for supporting the Robert Daniel Langston Artist Achievement Fund

-I lost 54 pounds

 

My experience of 2011:

-Texas A&M University-Commerce Symphonic Band

-The "Mane" Attraction Jazz Ensemble

-The Dallas Civic Wind Ensemble

-The Rockwall Community Band

-International Euphonium Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia

-Private lessons with Jimmy Clark, Chris Clark, Dr. Brian Bowman, Jason Casanova, Jeff Baker, Ryan Palmer, Tormod Flaten, Dr. Brian Meixner, and Dr. Tom Gibson

-Masterclasses with SGM Donald Palmire, Jeff Baker, and James T. Decker

-The "President's Own" Marine Band audition

-Air National Guard Band of the Gulf Coast audition

-Fall 2011 Mock Audition Texas A&M University-Commerce

-Symbiosis Duo Duet Competition at the International Euphonium Institute

-Dave Werden online community recital

-Tuba Christmas in Commerce, Texas

-TubaMeisters Christmas in San Antonio, Texas

 

Hello 2012!

Even though 2012 has just begun I have already set up a lot of goals to start off my new year!  Hope to see you at the events coming up!

 

My goals of 2012:

-Experience The United States Army Band Tuba Euphonium Workshop for the first time

-Compete in the TUSABTEW 2012 Mock Audition

-Compete in the Texas A&M University-Commerce Concerto Competition

-Compete in the ITEC Euphonium Artist Competition

-Compete in the Leonard Falcone Euphonium Artist Competition

-Compete in the International Women's Brass Conference 2012 Mock Audition

-Attend the International Euphonium Institute again

-Get good grades in school

-Perform a half recital at my school

-Lose ten more pounds and get more fit

-Go for any other auditions or experience opportunities that come up through the year

-Get better at Euphonium Performance

-Learn more on Trombone

-Learn how to play the Tuba

 

 

Thanks for reading!

-CARLOS DELEON

The picture above inspired me to write a blog about practicing outside.  This is a picture of Jeff Baker practicing his Tuba outside. He is faculty at Texas A&M University-Commerce. This picture illustrates the worlds beauty which is what should be expressed every time you perform. Nature is a stepping stone to pursing what you want out of your music.

One of the best things every musician should do is practice outside.  For the euphonium it is very essential due to its large size and sound.  In order to properly control the sound of the euphonium sometimes you just need to get out of the practice room.  One can become so used to the practice room and how easily the sound envelops the room that playing in a huge concert hall or auditorium will be very hard to fill. This can be easily remedied by lifting the limit of the practice room and practicing outside.  You can blow all the way to the atmosphere or past it into space!

This is where the music really happens!

At first it may seem weird to you as you are not in a sound proof practice room.  Anybody can be listening to you practice.  This can definitely be a good thing.  I remember in Arnold Jacobs "Song and Wind" he described a part of his practice routine outside so he can practice performing for nature and for other people.  It could be any person walking around the street or maybe an animal or plant.  What this does is clear your mind from the technical part of playing and puts you in an unfamiliar atmosphere and mindset.  Once you are at this point is where you practice your artistry and musicianship.

I did not understand this at first other than me lifting my limit on volume during my routine.  I first started on making my warm-ups more musical and would practice outside the Texas A&M University-Commerce Music Building. As I did this I looked out to the pond or to people passing by.  Sometimes I would close my eyes and just listen to my sound and how it would bounce off the building and air.  I had more control over being able to listen to my own sound by it being released into the atmosphere than it being stuck inside a small practice room.

I remember the night of OcTUBAfest at my school being one of great importance.  I was having difficulty understanding where the melodic line of "My one and only love" needed to venture. I was there outside practicing different styles and putting the last embellishments on the piece.  I was concentrating so much on playing as best as I could and was really feeling the piece.  I had never really felt like that before.  Had it not been for my outside practice I would not have figured it out.

A couple of weeks pass by and I run into Dr. Christopher White in the hallway.  He was telling my group of friends and I that I made a huge impact so much on the President of the University, Dr. Dan Jones, that he closed his speech at the music building dedication talking about my outside practicing.  I was ecstatic and will definitely say it was the highlight of my semester.  Different faculty members were praising me on something I did not even know about.  I was just really trying to push myself as far as I could to really understand what I wanted to do with my solo.

It was not until I started rehearsing with Laura Maxwell for my jury did I understand the depth of the speech.  She informed me of it being mentioned in the Alumni Magazine for the University.  I did my research and was astonished on how much of an impact I really did make.  What made me even more happy is that the euphonium was the highlight of his speech.

There goes a win for the euphonium community!

 

Pride magazine can be found at: http://pride.tamu-commerce.edu/current/

The issue in which the article is contained: http://pridev2.tamu-commerce.edu/current/?p=664

Practice outside when you have the chance and really focus on performing for someone or something.  Concentrate and really let your sound take control of you. Release your feelings into the atmosphere and push yourself to the limit. You will be surprised with the outcome and it will be definitely be worth your while!

-Carlos Deleon

 

I have been away for quite a long while!  It is probably due to the balance of time with my studies and practicing during the fall semester. I finally finished last Thursday and I am very glad that I can go back to my thorough practice sessions like I did this past summer.  Today was the first day I was actually able to accomplish my structured practice and boy is my endurance out of shape. Do not take it the wrong way, I did practice a lot during the semester, but I had to give up a bit of the structure to make time for my other classes.

My low range, tonguing, interval studies, and scales will be what I will be concentrating on during the short holiday break.  My tonguing speed is down from sixteenth equals 136 to 128.  I am also incorporating breath, K, and G syllable single tonguing articulation studies.  This should definitely help me with my mutiple tonguing.

Over the course of the Holidays I will also be working on the TUSABTEW 2012 excerpts as I was formally invited to participate in the mock audition!  The selection of excerpts are of course very challenging but luckily I have working excerpts left and right this whole semester.  I can't wait to go to the workshop, it will definitely be a outstanding learning experience!

The solo repertoire I will mainly be working on over the holidays will be Concertpiece no. 1 by Turrin and Euphonium Concerto by Cosma.  The Turrin will be more of a refinement to record for ITEC and the Falcone Festival. The Euphonium Concerto I am definitely going out on a whim to work this piece in time for the concerto competition at my school.  It will definitely be a challenge but it is such a magnificent concerto!

 

If you get a chance later and can't get enough of one euphonium blog check out my friend Karla's Blog that is on my links to the right.  There are definitely some good reads in there.

 

Daily Warm-up

 

Tonguing

Single T,D Tongue=128

Single K,G Tongue=80

Breath=70

Triple Tongue=180

 

Studies

Arban Scale study on Bb, Eb, and C.

Bell Scale study up to first double bar.  (thanks Karla!)

Arban Interval study all sharp keys.

Arban Multiple tonguing 1-9

Chromatic scales Bb-F

 

Excerpts

Pineapple Poll

 

Solos

Euphonium Concerto by Vladimir Cosma - 1st movement

At my school we celebrated OcTUBAfest which was a lot of fun!  I am very honored my friends and family were able to attend.  It is nice sharing a part of who you are.  It was awesome listening to my colleagues and had a wonderful time performing the studio piece and Pearls.  I enjoyed everyones performance and was introduced to a lot of repertoire I have never heard before!  Overall the OcTUBAfest was successful and I am glad I am a part of the studio!

The piece I performed was Pearls by Roland Szentpali.  I performed the second and third movements. The second movement is entitled, My one and only love and the the third movement is entitled Susi.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVDbVfrBuy8&w=560&h=315]

When playing the second movement I thought about how much I love my wife.  We have been through quite a bit in the short amount of time we have been married but manage to keep going strong.  She is definitely the coolest and most caring person I have ever met!  Her artwork is always incredible and is really an inspiration to my performance as an artist.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUHSN2he1rQ&w=560&h=315]

The image I get in my head is a long hard week of work is about to be over and now it is time to just have a party.  This movement of Pearls is really important to me.  It is the song that really inspired me to come back to euphonium.  My friend Jason Casanova performed it at his senior recital and taught me that euphonium performance can more outgoing than I ever imagined!

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

On the Euphonium Players Group Facebook page everyone has claimed today as euphonium day.  What this means is for you to post a video or recording of yourself playing a piece of music and posting it online.  Before I knew about this day I signed up for tha Dave Werden Community Forum Members Recital which happens to be the same day!  I performed and posted my video late last night of Suite for Baritone Movements 1 and 2 by Don Haddad. I ended up using the online program SmartMusic for my piano accompaniment and was giving cues with my foot mashing a spacebar of a keyboard on the floor. This was quite a challenging thing to do but was fun.  I recorded the performance with an IPhone 4 and had Peach help me.  I only did one recording as there is only one shot for you to do a recital when you play it.  The mistakes are there including the big mistake of getting off beat in the second movement but that is where the beauty of rehearsing with a real piano player comes into play!  I felt limited on expression but overall I had a great time!  Thanks for listening everyone!  HAPPY EUPHONIUM DAY!! :)

I've finally started my semester at school and realized that I need to update my music repertoire list!  I have purchased quite a bit of new music over the summer and have yet to add it to my repertoire list.  I will update my list as soon as I finish this post but here are the titles:

 

Euphonium Concerto by Vladimir Cosma

Four Puccini Arias by G. Puccini Transcribed by Joseph T. Spaniola

Mazurka for Solo Euphonium by Nicholas D. Falcone

Minuet - Scherzo by Joseph De Luca

Night Song by Neal Corwell

Odyssey by Neal Corwell

Scherzo by Edwin Franko Goldman

Simyeh by Neal Corwell

Sonata No. 6 by G. F. Handel

Three Euphonics by Howard J. Buss

Three Expeditions by Ethan Wickman

 

I also purchased this nice book with quite a bit of Clarke's Solos with piano accompaniment:

The Best of Herbert L. Clarke Trumpet/Cornet Solos

Bride of the Waves

Carnival of Venice

The Debutante

From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific

The Harp that once Thro' Tara's Halls

The Maid of the Mist

Sounds from the Hudson

The Southern Cross

I have been extremely busy since I came back from Washington D.C. and have a lot to update! Congratulations to Hiram Diaz on winning the spot for the "President's Own"!  While at the Marine Band audition I did learn quite a bit and have been working on a lot of different aspects of my playing.  I have also been preparing for numerous auditions and performances including: Texas A&M University-Commerce Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, The ANG Band of the Gulf Coast, The Dave Werden Community Forum Online Recital, TAMU-C Brass Day, and OcTUBAfest.  All of these events start this week and go on for the next two months with more to follow.  I am also working on the Leonard Falcone Festival and ITEC 2012 audition music!

Classes start Monday August 29th.  This semester I have signed up for fifteen credit hours. I was going to take eighteen hours but I figured out my complete schedule to obtain my degree which lets me get away with one less class this semester.  I can't wait to see how I do and look forward to all of the challenges that await me!

Another big update is tomorrow is my last day of work at L3.  It was great working and meeting all of the people there!  I enjoy aircraft maintenance but have a dream that I must accomplish in my life before it is too late.  Do not fret for me about my job because the Post 9/11 G.I. BIll will pay for my school, books, and give me a monthly stipend to supplement housing and food.  It is in no way a comparison to the pay that I received from L3 but will definitely help with my bills!

Before I go I want to thank Jimmy Clark and Chris Clark for the outstanding help that I received in preparing and getting to D.C. I also want to especially thank my wife Peachio Deleon, my parents, my family, and the many friends who are behind me in my decision to go back to school.  It was not an easy decision but I know it will benefit my family and I in the future!

I hope everyone is having a great summer!  It is now time to go back to school!