Arthur W. Lehman

Arthur W. Lehman is one of the most widely recorded American euphonium soloists and is world-famous for having radically changed the way the instrument is performed today.

Arthur W. Lehman retired as euphonium section leader of the famous "President's Own" U.S. Marine Band in 1971 after over 30 years of service. During his time with the Marine Band, he played many solos that set a very high standard for those who followed him.

During that time, Arthur Lehman also was instrumental in changing the euphonium section of the Marine Band over from playing Conn Double-Bell euphoniums to playing Boosey and Hawkes self-compensating euphoniums.

Lehman's teacher, Harold Brasch of the U.S. Navy Band had started using the bigger bore Boosey and Hawkes type horns during the Second World War, but it didn't catch on in the US until the mid 1950's with Lehman's performances.

In the late 1940s, Arthur Lehman worked with the Boosey and Hawkes company to produce a set of five silver-plated "Imperials" which were used in the Marine Band from 1950 until very recently.

Lehman also developed the deep, parabolic cup mouthpieces generally known as the "Lehman Special," a radical change from the shallower cup-shaped mouthpieces of the earlier generations.

With his performances on the Boosey and Hawkes / Lehman Special combination, Arthur Lehman is widely credited for transforming the typical American euphonium sound from the lighter sound of the Sousa days to the rich, dark, resonant sound associated with modern euphonium playing.

In the late 1960s and 1970's, Arthur Lehman began to put his ideas down in a document called "The ART of the euphonium." This developed into a book which eventually was published by Robert Hoe and later by the Tuba Press and is widely regarded as the final word in the world of euphonium performance techniques.

Arthur Lehman turned 90 years old in 2007 and currently lives in Camp Spring, Maryland with his wife, Frieda.

References

* http://www.tubaeuphoniumpress.com/p368.html
* http://www.dwerden.com/eu-articles-lehman.cfm
* http://www.dwerden.com/euphonia-LehmanAuditions.cfm
* http://www.dwerden.com/eu-articles-lehman-Mouthpiece.cfm
* http://www.infography.com/content/258597210635.html
* http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/audio_resources/discography/bi_disc3.htm