A common complaint aired by many of the lead Euphoniumists in the premiere service bands is that auditionees often have little concept as to the degree of technique required by the professional Euphoniumist. In particular after the basics of solo or etude presentation, few auditionees expect what they see put before them to sight read. The list below, offered by Mr. Arthur W. Lehman, the well known former Principal and Solo Euphoniumist from the U.S. Marine Band, is representative of the level of technique that can be found in any of the major service band audition folios. Mr. Lehman notes that this list is not intended to be inclusive, and indeed, few of the pieces below will actually be found in those folios. The key is that they are meant to be representative of the technical level expected of auditionees. Arthur has selected this particular list from the many Carl Fischer publications for band, and all on the list should be fairly easy to find.

Rhapsody Espana (Chabrier)
The Flying Dutchman Overture (Wagner)
Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner)
Overture to Rienzi (Wagner)
Second Hungarian Rhapsody (Liszt)
Overture to Oberon (von Weber)
Fingal's Cave (Mendelssohn)
Finale to the Fourth Symphony (Tchaikovski)
Dance of the Hours (Ponchielli)
Post and Peasant Overture (von Suppe)

****Remember that accuracy as well as speed are important; don't lose sight of your pitch, meter, dynamics, tone or tongue!

[Many of the pieces above are available in Euphonium Excerpts from the Standard Band and Orchestral Library - Editor]

NOTE: this article is reprinted from Euphonia magazine, January, 1979, with permission of the publisher, Glenn Call.