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Re: NABBA Instant Band

At 09:11 PM 2/5/97 -0500, Kris Richardson wrote:
>> 
>> I can't see why what is arguable the finest middle brass instrument should
>> be excluded from brass bands.  In the good ol' days, maybe it was because
>> (a) it was hard to find good french hornists and (b) you could always find
>> some other three-valve player to fill in in an emergency, but nowadays
>> there are lots of young french horn players coming up through school
>> concert  bands and orchestras.
>
>	I have to disagree with this.  The timbre of the French horn 
>would stick out like a sore thumb in a brass band.  It sounds wonderful 
>in orchestras, but they are far too harsh for the general warm sounds of 
>a brass band.  The same thing goes with trumpets vs. cornets.  There are 
>many other brass ensembles which suit these instruments and sound good, 
>such as brass quintets or a Philip Jones sort of setup.  

As a professional "Saxhorn" player and French Horn player, as well as a
player of natural trumpets, modern "trumpets", cornets, Flugelhorns, keyed
bugles, and natural horn, I find generalizations such as the above lacking
in accuracy.  While I agree that the brass band is, or ought to be, a
well-blended "family" of instruments (as A. Sax initially intended with his
like-bored, like-shaped instruments of all pitch ranges), and that "French"
horns don't necessarily belong in that mix, to say that the most conical and
mellowest of all brasses is harsh and not warm is to say that the only style
of horn playing is the "cuivre" "pavillons en l'air" of the French cor de
chasse ensemble.  Truth be known, it's the trombones that don't fit in the
brass band, as they are basically cylindrical instruments, while the rest
are primarily conical.  "Trombone" means big Tromba, and the trumpet family
is where they belong.  The problem with the French horn in the brass band is
the bell direction.  Sax took bell direction into account in his designs.
That's why the most cohesive and blending brass bands were the ones with
unified bell directions used primarily in the US in the mid-19th century.
Over-the-shoulder saxhorns in Eb soprano (the lead voice), Bb "alto" (=
today's cornet), Eb tenor, Bb tenor (narrower bore but still not quite
trombones), Bb baritone, Bb Bass (= euphonium), Eb Contrabass (= Bombardon)
[seldom if ever a BBb bass], made up the most usual band, and what a sound!
Other bell designs were helical, bell-front, and bell upright.  Sopranos and
altos are only made bell front today, but the Eb tenors [called altos in the
US school bands], baritones, euphoniums, and tubas are the descendants of
the upright Saxhorn family. 

>	Also brass band players are really more like virtuoso players.  
>You'll never hear a French horn play Flight of the Bumble Bee or Carnival 
>of Venice.  They are stuck on the Mozart, Strauss, and Weber concertos
>
>			Kris Richardson
>

Gosh, I've heard French horn players doing those pieces.  And excuse me, but
Strauss, Mozart, and especially the Weber Concertino (try some of those
variations, double stops, and wide leaps on a cornet!), are certainly what I
would class as virtuoso pieces!  That has nothing to do with the usual
exclusion of horns from the brass band.  It's the other reasons I've
mentioned, and, as I also pointed out, today's instrumentation leaves a lot
to be desired as far as the optimum blend of "warm" sounds is concerned.
Tradition plays more of a role than logic (hence the inclusion of trombones
-- and speaking of Flight of the Bumble Bee -- well, yes, Alain Trudel does
an [in]credible job with such "virtuoso" pieces on trombone, but that's not
the trombone's lot in the brass band).

In The Plumbing Factory Brass Band (London, Ontario, Canada), our concerts
feature historic instruments to good effect in addition to the standard
repertoire.  On our last concert, we did Gabrieli's Canzon Duodecimi Toni
with modern brass band instruments in choir I and renaissance brass band
instruments (cornettos, sackbuts, and even a serpent) as choir II.  What an
eye[ear?]-opening experience that was for the band and the audience!  A pole
taken at the post-concert reception favoured the effect (including tone
colour, ornamentation capabilities, and, here's the surprise -- intonation),
of the "original" instruments over that of the modern!  On our next concert
we will feature natural trumpets in ensemble, and also I will play the
Sachse Concertino for Eb cornet (1871) on keyed bugle (unless I have to
conduct more than I think I will, in which case I'll opt for the OTS soprano
saxhorn).

Just a little food for thought.

Henry Meredith   <drhank@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 


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