Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2014
23
good fundamentals results in the best tone qualities.
Use knowledge of the fundamentals to diagnose
problems with the student’s sound in any register.
Working on the fundamentals will help students
achieve pure, round, full, resonant, warm, beautiful,
and clear sounds.
Pract ice Habi ts
Brass players need to develop their embouchure
muscles along with their playing technique. Insist on
students practicing every day for a specified amount
of time. Developing good practice habits should
start in beginning band. Brass players have exercises,
like athletes, to develop their skills. Here are some
examples that get the player’s embouchure in shape,
and develop their technique.
• Lip slurs - Flexibilities
• Long tones
• Tonguing exercises
• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Playing in upper and lower registers/Range
building
• Playing melodies
Listening
Be sure to provide professional recordings for
students to hear.
In order for them to produce quality sounds,
students must first hear what a superior tone quality
sounds like. Here are some soloists and chamber
ensembles that your students can hear for great
examples of euphonium and tuba playing.
• Euphonium Soloists: Brian Bowman, David
Childs, Adam Frey, Steven Mead, Matthew Mireles,
Ben Pierce, Demondrae Thurman
• Tuba Soloists: Oystein Baadsvik, Roger Bobo, Pat
Sheridan, Roland Szentpali
• Tuba-Euphonium Quartets: Boreas Quartet, Sotto
Voce Quartet
What ’s Going On Back There?!
Teaching Beginning Euphonium and Tuba
Dr. Matthew Mireles is highly active as a conductor, performer, and educator, with his performances achieving high praise, and his
students having success in major competitions. As a euphonium soloist, Dr. Mireles made his professional debut at the 2012 International
Tuba Euphonium Conference in Linz, Austria performing with the Military Wind Ensemble of Upper Austria. His successes in major
competitions include winning the 2008 Leonard Falcone International Euphonium Competition, the 2007 Mid-Texas Symphony Young Artist
Competition, the 2007 University of Alabama Concerto-Aria Competition, the 2008 International Tuba Euphonium Conference Chamber
Music Competition, and the Judge’s Special Recognition Award at the 2010 Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Dr. Mireles recorded a
solo album “Prometheus.” He plays frst euphonium with the Boreas Quartet and recorded “The Serpent’s Kiss” with them. Both albums are
released through Potenza Music. Currently, Dr. Matthew Mireles is the Director of Bands and Low Brass at Cameron University in Lawton,
Oklahoma. Before joining the faculty at Cameron, Dr. Mireles conducted and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also
on faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, MI, where he teaches low brass and conducting. Dr. Mireles earned a Doctor of
Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Music degree from the University of Alabama, and a Bachelor of
Arts Degree with Teacher Certifcation from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. His major teachers include John Stevens, Dr. Demondrae
Thurman, Lee Hipp, Scott Teeple, and Mark Hetzler.