“One of the best method books”
Michael Müller and Maria Sturm have successfully produced one of the best method books I´ve seen in decades.
In terms of production value, the quality is incredible. A glossy cover and sophisticated hidden spiral binding opens to reveal a book packed with great exercises, annotations and, most importantly, some wonderful pieces of music!
With both German and English translations, it features a preface and introduction explaining the authors´ desire to create an all-round package covering many single areas. It certainly does this, with 11 chapters focusing on basics such as breathing, mouthpiece buzzing, lip flexibilities, high-register, finger technique, dynamics, intonation, articulation and multiple-tonguing.
Each exercise is presented with explanatory text, answering questions such as, how should the exercise be executed? What should be paid close attention to? What is the aim of the exercise? How can the exercise be varied? On every occasion, the advice is stellar making it invaluable as a teaching resource for anyone keen to develop his or her fundamentals.
The book also takes the time to explain popular musical (Italian) terms, common accidentals, valve combinations, key signatures, the circle of fifths and basic knowledge relating to breathing, embouchure, the tongue, and buzzing. In fact, an additional resource in the form of audio downloads complements the buzzing chapter, encouraging a staple pitch and tone. However, what I like the most about this book is the 28 short solos – pieces of music to help hone the skills addressed. I recognise the importance of daily drills and routines, but I´ve always preferred music-led (solo) practice. With a variety of new compositions by Maria Sturm, together with transcriptions of excerpts from existing classics, this method book kept my attention from cover-to-cover. Congratulations Michael Müller and Maria Sturm on an excellent new addition to our pedagogical literature.

Here is an exciting new method book, written and published in Germany, by two euphonium players Maria Sturm and Michael Muller, that is sure to win many friends and admirers.
This is an extremely well put together book, (desribed as a ‘brass school’) with loads of exercises covering all the basic skills that we need, and there are also in addition many original etudes, and some excerpts from very famous solos and classical solos. There are also lots of additional features including a practice diary, recommended literature, a note-taking section, fingering charts and lots of explanatory sections too.
It’s a really good book to work through alone, and of course very suitable for a teacher to work with students as it covers so many things in a logical progression. This is beautifully printed, very high quality publication, and we at the Euphoniumstore recommend this method book highly. It’s a great addition to our education resources.

A complete workbook for euphonium and baritone. A great mix between basic exercises and inspiring solo etudes, carefully selected and composed by the German euphonium artists Maria Sturm and Michael Müller.
This is a must have for any player wishing to improve their technical and artistic skills on the euphonium or baritone. – highly recommended!

It’s very important for the develop of our instrument that new, good quality books appear and this is certainly one of them. First of all the lay out is very professional. The information is very clear but not too long too read so you can keep your focus all the time. Also the combination of exercises and studies which belong to them are a great idea. Of course this is maybe not a new idea, but putting them next together to each other in the same chapter really works. The fact that you use both new compositions (and some really nice ones!) and some more popular and well known music is smart. I think you cover almost every aspect of playing in your book and you have made some smart choices to leave things out, or choose some keys above other, because the book could have been 10 times as big. You can’t put everything in it and the musician itself can be creative enough to add to the already written exercises. It’s a book which is suitable for both the enthusiastic amateur musician and the professional and is definitely an addition to the repertoire for euphonium. Many congratulations on a great book and I’ll definitely recommend it to anyone!

I will strongly recommend the workbook “Brasstrail – Bläserschule für bariton, euphonium, tenorhorn” written by Michael Müller and Maria Sturm. What we are lacking in our literature is easy and presicely explained exercises about building instrumental skills. This book contains that, and it`s superb to develop good practice habits, understand the exact point of the exercises and develop the ability to connect every aspect of instrumental skills together. The book is well organized and easy to use, and therefor I will consider it a “must have” for every high school player or eager amateur player. It can also be helpful to the young college student. What I absolutely love about this book is the etudes, beautiful and thoughtfully composed for the occasion. I also like the fact that it covers so many important topics that I could give it to my high school students, and we would cover a year of work with it. The appendix includes great stuff like practice journals that will make you aware of your habits and some well formulated articles on important basic knowledge. Congratulations on a great book!

Very interesting book, great for daily study and for all levels of players. With Brasstrail you can achieve flexibility and an excellent technique to face your artistic career. Congratulations on the excellent work, Michael and Maria!

I totally recommend the Brasstrail Workbook because it´s a complete book of technique, with a complete selection of exercices very well classified and explained (in English and German), as well as studies in each section! Congratulations on a great book!

Brasstrail is my new favorite method book! Both for my students and myself. Brasstrail covers a variety of basics including well arranged and composed etudes. I love that the authors of the book, Maria and Michael always focus on making music. I highly recommend Brasstrail to all players on any level. This is a must have!

Für jeden Bläser ein „Must-have“ auf dem Notenständer. Zwischen verschiedenen musikalischen Welten unterwegs zu sein ist nicht einfach, aber mit Brass Trail erreicht man eine Flexibilität, um dies in Zukunft besser bewältigen zu können.