Tyrone Breuninger, 73, trombonist

Tyrone Breuninger, a trombonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1967 to 1999, sure kept in touch with his roots.

In the 1940s, his father's father decided that he didn't want to perform anymore after decades with the Red Hill Band, named for the northern Montgomery County borough where he lived.

So he handed his horn to the 7-year-old Tyrone. By the time he was 12, the youngster was a soloist with the band.

Fast-forward to 1995 and, in an interview, the Philadelphia Orchestra stalwart said he was still playing occasional small-town summer concerts with his grandfather's old small-town band.

On Monday, May 7, Mr. Breuninger, 73, died of lung cancer at his home in Clementon.

A Philadelphia Orchestra spokesman said he was "coprincipal trombone" from 1967 to 1972 and "associate principal trombone" from 1972 to 1999.

Grover Breuninger and his wife, Minnie, raised their grandson, Tyrone, in the absence of his parents, Tyrone Breuninger's wife, Peggi, said in an interview.

That absence wasn't his first wound.

When he was 9 months old, his wife said, Tyrone Breuninger was stricken with polio.

"He would play baseball," she said, "and somebody else would run the bases for him."

So, she said, practicing his music "was something that he knew he could do and do well and that was not physically demanding."

By the time that he retired from the Philadelphia Orchestra, she said, "he was using two crutches and had braces on both legs."

The Red Hill Band had been formed in 1900 and, by the 1930s, grandfather Grover was playing euphonium — a member of the tuba group of horns — for five bands in towns around Red Hill, such as East Greenville, Tyrone Breuninger said in a 1995 Inquirer interview headlined, in part, "The 95-Year-Old Red Hill Band Is a Family Affair."

When the youngster replaced his grandfather and began playing solo euphonium in the 1950s — marches and Broadway show tunes were favorites at outdoor concerts — it built confidence for his later career.

"I look back," he told the 1995 interviewer, "and it was a wonderful experience."

Born in Red Hill, Mr. Breuninger graduated from Upper Perkiomen High School in 1956 and earned a bachelor's degree in music education at what is now West Chester University in 1961.

"He lived on campus during the week," his wife said, "but came home every weekend and taught euphonium and trombone lessons ... at a local music store in Norristown."

From 1961 to 1964, Mr. Breuninger taught instrumental music in what is now the Southeast Delco School District while playing with the Valley Forge Philharmonic Orchestra and at the former Valley Forge Music Fair. In 1964, he joined the music faculty at West Chester.

His career took a sharp turn when he began studying for a master's in performance on trombone and euphonium at Temple University, because Mr. Breuninger's Temple teacher was Henry Charles Smith, principal trombonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

A few months after Mr. Breuninger earned his master's in 1966, Smith announced he was leaving for colleges in Iowa and Minnesota. So Mr. Breuninger took a chance, though he was fresh out of graduate school.

"I went in the auditions just for the experience," he told an interviewer in September 1976 as his first Philadelphia Orchestra season began, "and came away with the job."

By the 1980s, he was also conducting the Brass and Percussion Ensemble at the New School of Music in Center City.

But playing with his grandfather's old band in small towns wasn't his only relaxation from the stresses of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In 1994, he was interviewed while rehearsing in Glassboro with Eu Tu — pronounced "you too" — a quartet of players of the euphonium and the tuba.

And after he left the Philadelphia Orchestra, his wife said, he was an adjunct teacher of low brass at Rowan University from 2001 until this year. Besides his wife of 38 years, Mr. Breuninger is survived by sons Galen and Lorin; a daughter, Michelle; and eight grandchildren. He is also survived by his former wife, Nancy Bradburd.

A memorial concert is planned for an undetermined September date and location at Rowan University.

Contact Walter F. Naedele at 215-854-5607 or wnaedele@phillynews.com.