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Instrumental straightjackets (was alternative instrument for cornet players

Message text written by INTERNET:brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Alec
Gallagher

>Here in the UK, the brass band fraternity have been so preoccupied
with the futile activity of contesting, that they have let world-class
composers slip through their fingers.  What do we have to show for rubbin=
g
shoulders with the great composers?  Elgar (one piece), Holst (one piece)=
,
Vaughan-Williams (two pieces, one of which never saw the light of day unt=
il
the 1980s), Tippett (one piece - or was the Festal Brass & Blues taken fr=
om
something else?), Britten (not a note), Walton (not a sausage)  - compose=
rs
on our very doorstep.  (Honourable exception - Robert Simpson).  As for
living composers, we have one piece from Birtwistle, one from
Maxwell-Davies, a couple of pieces from Robin Holloway - but where are th=
e
pieces from Dominic Muldowney, James MacMillan, Mark Antony Turnage, John=

Tavener etc, etc, etc. (Second honourable exception - John McCabe).<


I think that Britten wrote 'Music for a Russian Funeral' for band.

I really don't think that this argument holds any weight, if composers
wanted different instrumentation I'm quite sure that they would call for
it. The forthcoming UK competition at the Cambridge All England Masters
illustrates this in a small way with Edward Gregson's Dances and Arias
which is scored with two flugel horns.

The fact is, the whole point writing for brass bands is being able to mak=
e
effective music with the limited tone colours available. Obviously adding=

other instruments would give more tone colours, so why not allow the use
of
all other instruments?  Oh, because that's called a symphony orchestra.

These same arguments which have been flying around the lists could be use=
d
with a number of musical ensembles, why don't choirs use electric guitars=
?,
why don't wind bands use strings? why do barbershop quartets not have a f=
ew
extra singers? It's alright banding about the names of famous orchestral
composers who haven't written much for brass band but I think it's a sort=

of snobbery. There are many fine composers in the brass band medium, (man=
y
with Salvation Army backgrounds) who compose excellent music for brass
bands, but don't compose for orchestra. I could name hundreds but I don't=

want to single any out, I'm sure everyone can name a handfull. There is n=
o
reason to suggest that orchestral composers would make a better job than
these at brass band writing, and plenty of evidence that many of them
probably wouldn't. Take for example a couple of the pieces which I am awa=
re
of, Elgar's Severn Suite, how often do you hear it played? not very often=

because quite honestly it is not very good! I'm not knocking the musical
content, but it just doesn't work very well for Brass Band. The same can
be
said for Britten's Music for a Russian Funeral, I recall playing this pie=
ce
at a concert some years ago to be met with bemused indifference by the
audience, it's simply not effective and if the composer were not a famous=

orchestral composer it would probably have never been heard of.

What I am trying to say is that the limited tone colour of a brass band i=
s
the same as for any other musical group except for the full symphony
orchestra, there are many many superb brass band composers, some of whom
also write good orchestral music, and some who don't .   In the same way
not all orchestral composers write effective brass band music, this will
always be the case, the two tasks are simply different skills. I'm sure
that any composer who wishes to use alternative instrumentation in the ba=
nd
will call for it in the score. I can think of several occasions where thi=
s
has been done and where contest rules have been duly relaxed in line with=

the composers wishes (i.e. Gregson's Dances & Arias mentioned above),
however, most composers probably stick to the conventional instrumentatio=
n
simply because they would like their music to be played. If composer 'A'
decided to use 3 french horns instead of Eb horns, but composer 'B' decid=
ed
to use 10 trumpets instead of cornets, how many bands have the resources
to
purchase all the alternative instrumentation permutations possible in ord=
er
to play these pieces?

Effective music can be written, has been written and is currently being
written for the traditional brass band instrumentation. It is true that n=
ot
all composers wish to write for brass bands, but at the same time there a=
re
a number of first rate composers who write for brass bands but do not wri=
te
orchestral music. Their music is in no way inferior because of this and i=
s
often much more effective than brass band music composed by their
orchestral counterparts.

Richard Cookson
Besses o' th' Barn


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