When I was in school, I went through all 3 of the Rochut books. So I really thought I had seen it all. And maybe I have, but honestly, if I have seen it all, I've forgotten at least 80% of it.

I've been trying to improve my valve chops (euphonium) by playing Rochut from the beginning. But the first 20 of these or so are so familiar, even if they are great tunes. So I tried something else. I started from the back of the first book. It's easy to forget that some of the greatest lyrical melodies are the ones that you see less frequently. Some of these lie great on the trombone, and almost as well on the euphonium.

Number 60 starts out in a very playable G minor, and then bounces into a very flowing page and a half of constant lip slurs and alternate position heaven in G major, You can play this section fast or moderately, but the leading tones always beg you to stretch out half cadences to make it all very expressive.

This has always been one of my favorites since I first encountered it back in the '80s. Some of the others before it are nice too, like 58 and 52. You don't see many people talk about these. I could only find 1 Youtube of #60, and it's a little sharp-elbowed, this might flow more and rubato. Which ones from the back of the first book are your favorites?

<YOUTUBE id="h-tLSoRAt4w">[media]https://youtu.be/h-tLSoRAt4w</YOUTUBE>

Cool idea! If somebody is really bored/ambitious, play something you know backwards starting from the last note and working to the first. That said, once we read a big band chart that was so bad we turned it upside down and played the last few lines as a joke. It actually sounded better!

When I was working through Rochut, I would start on a book at the front. I used a marker with an arrow on it to indicate which direction I was going. When I got to the end of the book, I reversed the arrow and worked back to the front. There were some I looked forward to and some I dreaded.

So that would be the Tuhcor book if you play it backwards.

I always referred to it as Rochut The Door!