Euphonium Fingering Chart

How to use the euphonium fingering chart

The euphonium and the baritone horn share one set of valve fingerings, and this euphonium fingering chart shows them from E2 up to Bb4 in bass clef, with a treble clef view in Bb for brass band and baritone parts and a switch between 3 and 4 valves. Tap a note on the staff or the piano strip and the diagram shows which valves to press (filled circles, numbered from the mouthpiece side), with alternates as chips you can tap. Set 3 valves or 4 valves to match your instrument, and Bass clef or Treble clef (Bb) to match your music. The chart, the piano strip and the quiz all follow the clef you pick.

← → move through the chart, Space plays the note, and in the quiz 1 to 4 answer.

Euphonium notes and baritone fingerings

The euphonium notes from E2 to Bb4 sit on the staff with their 3-valve and 4-valve fingerings. A baritone horn is pitched in Bb like the euphonium and uses the same valve combinations, so the page is a baritone horn fingering chart too. If your part is written in treble clef, choose Treble clef (Bb): the staff then shows the notes as you read them, which turns the page into a baritone treble clef fingering chart with the valves unchanged.

Bass clef or treble clef: the same fingerings

In American concert bands and orchestras the euphonium reads bass clef at concert pitch: the note on the page is the note that sounds. British brass bands write it in treble clef in Bb instead, a major ninth (an octave plus a whole step) above the sound. Written treble C4 sounds Bb2.

The fingering belongs to the sound, not to the page, so the same valves go with both spellings (the transposition chart converts any note or key between them). That also means a trumpet player reading a treble clef part already knows the fingerings: they match the trumpet. One octave side by side:

How the valves and partials fit together

The euphonium is a 9-foot Bb instrument, an octave below the Bb trumpet. With no valves the lips select Bb1 (the pedal), Bb2, F3, Bb3, D4, F4 and higher. Valve 2 lowers those open notes by a semitone, valve 1 by a whole tone, valve 3 by three semitones, and valve 4 by a perfect fourth. The 3-valve standard fingerings, as the tool shows them:

With four valves some of these change: F2 and C3 become 4 instead of 1-3, and E2 and B2 become 2-4 instead of 1-2-3. Those 4-valve fingerings are better in tune, because valve combinations on three valves come out sharp.

Euphonium or baritone: what differs

The two instruments share the Bb pitch and the fingerings, so any baritone fingering chart is a euphonium chart too. The euphonium has a wider conical bore and most have four valves; the baritone horn has a narrower bore, a smaller bell and often only three valves. On a compensating euphonium the fourth valve also fixes the tuning of the notes below E2, down to B1. Non-compensating 4-valve instruments use different fingerings for B1 to Eb2; with 4 valves on, the tool notes them from the source chart.

Practice tips

Play slow lip slurs across the open partials, then repeat them with each valve combination to hear the same pattern move down. Check that 1-3 and 1-2-3 are not sharp on the tuner, keep a steady pulse with the metronome, and learn the bass staff on the bass clef notes page. Other brass charts: trumpet fingering chart, trombone slide chart, tuba fingering chart, French horn fingering chart and mellophone fingering chart.

More for band instruments: Clarinet Fingering Chart · Saxophone Fingering Chart · Trumpet Fingering Chart · French Horn Fingering Chart · Mellophone Fingering Chart · Transposition Chart · Tuner

Questions

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