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Re: No Swing in the U.K.?

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: No Swing in the U.K.?
From: Erik <pittock@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 17:16:09 -0500
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At 10:28 AM 1/22/97 GMT, you wrote:
>With all due respect to your last comment, I appreciate that this is your
own 
>opinion...But:
>
>Pray-tell what is Brass Bands 'own' music, I'm sure that you don't 
>mean that we should all stick to playing Floral Dance for the rest of 
>our years....or do you?
>
>I think that the scope of the brass band repertoire has 
>come on leaps and bounds over the last decade and at this point we 
>surely must ask ourselves who do we play for?  The audiences? or  ourselves
>(as players)? The more diverse musical styles that are now available 
>surely can only be seen as a benefit to both.

This may or may not be strictly on topic, but I've been thinking about it
for a while.  Maybe because it's my SA influence and that we almost NEVER
play pop music or that sort of thing (just the SA music and various
classical transcriptions when we're feeling particularly naughty!), but I
can't STAND hearing a brass band play almost any pop title.  The other
night I was listening to the TV (I was on the computer, naturally) and
there was a broadcast of a British Youth Brass Band (sorry, I've forgotten
the name of the group).  They said that their next number was a popular hit
and would be recognizable.  I thought, "Oh no, not Superman."  Sure enough,
Superman.  And it's only been what, 17 or more years since it came out?!?
Mind you, it's one of the better arrangements, but when I look at a brass
band catalogue and see ABBA hits and stuff like that, I think no, this is
not what I want to hear brass bands doing.  Some people might, but to me,
it is just too far out of our element and frankly I think it sounds bad.

I'm sorry if I've wounded the feelings of those who love to play the latest
Sting song on their euphoniums, but I think that as both a player and a
listener, brass should stick to what it does best.  Let's face it - we're
surely not going to win many rock fans over with our versions of popular
songs so why pretend to be what we're not?

Those are my opinions and I'm sticking to them.  For now, anyway.

Erik Pittock
pittock@xxxxxxxx

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