Brass Band Logo

NJH Music Logo

Some of the contents of the pages on this site are Copyright © 2016 NJH Music
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Instrumental straightjackets.. or limited musical ideas?

At 06:44 26/04/98 -0400, Richard Cookson wrote:
>The fact is, the whole point writing for brass bands is being able to make
>effective music with the limited tone colours available.

In defense of the brass band as a "concert" medium (i.e. music for
pleasure, rather than marching, ceremony or demonstrating cold technique):

It could be argued that, without the use of percussion and mutes, the tone
colour of a brass band is fairly limited. But then so is the tone colour of
a string quartet limited. Are string quartets all boring? Is Vivaldi's
"Four Seasons" boring because it's all strings? For polyphonic writing, the
use of instruments of the same family can sometimes be a plus.

Good modern brass band music makes interesting use of all aspects of the
brass band instrumentation and styles.

	I think "Year of the Dragon" by Phillip Sparke is a good example of
excellent writing for brass band.  I am not familiar with the score, but:
in the first movement he uses percussion and dynamics brilliantly with
marvellous effect;  the second movement is dominated by a beautiful
trombone solo, written in a 'modern' style, and a moving 'hymn' sequence
which builds to a splendid emotional climax. (Just my opinion, but I rank
this particular writing of Phillip Sparke on an equal footing with
Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov's best slow movements); the final fast movement
is an effective and exciting finish - effective use of the sonata principle
I suppose, but just good writing IMHO.

	In my mind, what makes good music for any ensemble is the ideas and
emotion in the music, brought out by the skill of the composer using every
possible mix of tonal capacity of the ensemble. The composer has many
opportunities for tonal and dynamic contrast within the brass band ensemble
by the use of solos, quartets, quintets, dynamic range fff- ppp, mutes,
percussion, etc...

 It is not the nature of the ensemble which limits the musical capacity of
the concert brass band, it is the quality and originality of the
composition (and the skill of individual players, of course).

I enjoy good music played by competent ensembles of any brand. It all
hinges on the music and how it is played. Does anyone else agree with these
ideas, or am I again out on a limb here?


Philip Anderton


Philip Anderton			Phone: +61 2 9316 8301
Warringah Concert Brass
Sydney, Australia

Web: http://www.optom.unsw.edu.au/public/other/wcb.htm
Email: P.Anderton@xxxxxxxxxxx


--
unsubscribe or receive the list in digest form, mail a message of 'help' to
listserver@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Services] [Contact Us] [Advertise with us] [About] [Tell a friend about us] [Copyright © 2016 NJH Music]