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Re: In defence of the repiano:

I am quoting most of Alastair Wheeler's <alastair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
message of 25 April, as my reply will not mean much without it.

On Fri, 24 Apr 1998, I wrote:

> > I have however never understood the need for a Repiano. It has no more
> > range than the other 8 players. It has no different colour to the
> > other 8. As a solo instrument, it can only do what one of the other 8
> > might do just as well. It's only useful function is to double up the
> > melody, which the soprano does anyway, or counterpoint line.

Alistair replied:

> I find this sentence very bizare, Adrian, particularly as you say you
> have arranged for bands, by the sound of things at a very high level. 
> I'll try and take your points in order:

> 1) Range    
> In all but the best bands, players aren't up to the same standard.  The
> rep will be as good as many on the front row, perhaps better - the rep
> is a soloist, men down are supporters.  Rangewise, the rep will have a
> better compass than at least the 2nds and 3rds, Cs and Ds are written
> with impunity these days (a the top level) at alower level, the contrast
> in range is more marked.

> 2) Tone 
>   As a soloist, the rep should cultivate a soloistic tone.  We're very
> lucky with Tom in that respect at Oxford (Tom also played in Fundamental
> Brass, with better tone than James, our leader)  I believe it is common
> for when a principal leaves for the rep p[layer to move forward.

> 3) Ability
>   Already covered:  the rep is better than (at least) 2nds and 3rds.

> 4) Function

>   You sound like you're well rooted in the past - not even the Denis
> Wright 'Scoring for Brass Band' is this limited in scope.  Examine the
> scores of big modern works, and you'll find many instances.  I'll give
> you examples if you give me time to think, this is all off the top of my
> head.

> The reps main tasks are to

> * Aid the solos, 2nds, flugel, sop, at pitch
> * provide harmony notes betwwen solo and sop octaves

> so far, so traditional

> * Work with the sop as a team - dovetailed runs, high trumpet fanfares,
> contrast with the front row.  This will be at the unison, octave, 3rd
> mainly.
> * alternate solos with the front row, especially is one is muted - echo
> effects work well.
> * lead the back row, contrasting them to the front - especially when they
> are also spatially seperated. 
> * offstage solos - something I have used recently in an arrangment, which
> needed full front row and back row on their parts.

> All this seems common sense?  Now, admittedly, you could use one player
> from somewhere else in the cornet section to do some of these things,
> but the spacial position would be wrong - the rep really is the lynchpin
> of the cornet section, holding everything together.  Because there is a
> player in the middle of the section who can work with anyone else
> arround him as need, he is utilised - unless you want to junk all
> published music, and restrict your writting, we need a rep part.

Hi Alastair,

I respect your views in defence of the Repiano Cornet, but I am still not
convinced that all these functions cannot be covered by the other 9
cornets. To me the repiano is merely an odd job man and the arranger's
task is to find something useful for him to do. It is almost as ludicrous
as having a solitary violinist sitting in between the 16 1st's and 14
2nd's just in case any of them need a little help.

The repiano has no range that the solo or 2nd cornets can't cover. It has
no special style or tone that one of the other player's can't achieve. I
see no point in using it as a 1st Cornet as there would be an imbalance of
weight on the 2nd voice of a chord (4, 1, 2, 2). The 9 cornets would be
very much better split 3, 2, 2, 2 on a 4 part chord. Better still, give up
the rep position altogether in favour of a 2nd flugelhorn.

There probably was a good case to create the position of repiano in the
early days of banding, but I see no useful purpose for it in the modern
band. 

There are other outdated labels for brass band instrumentation. I'm sure
there would be many more writers interested in brass band scoring if they
could understand its curious instrumentation.

For instance, why are the 4 guys who sit at the conductor's left called
Solo Cornets? Most of the time they are all playing the same unison part.
When ever are they *all* used as soloists? Why are there no 1st Cornets?
Why can the 2nd or 3rd cornet not play solo? Don't tell me they are not
strong enough, I have already covered that argument on another thread.

Why is there a Solo Horn, when playing solo is not its sole function. In
fact, it seems to be fashionable these days to give the solo hornist the
2nd part in a 4 part flugel and tenor horn voicing.

<BTW, my spell checker just told me "hornist" should be spelt "horniest">
:-)

The euphonium probably plays more solos than anyone else, yet there is no
"Solo Euphonium". Why is there no "Solo" position for Trombone or Bass
Trombone or Bass or Flugel? Oops, I forgot the poor old baritones. What
function are they supposed to fill? Don't answer that!

Earlier on today, I was trying to provide some help to a frustrated
arranger on another part of the internet who was really confused about the
brass band set-up. He was lost as how to create any contrast in an
ensemble that had practically no difference in timbre. I had to tell him
that that was the way the traditionalists liked it. Trumpets and French
Horns were taboo. The only contrast he was going to get is with dynamics,
voicing, counterpoint etc. The only timbre variation he would get would be
with mutes, and many bands are severely lacking in that department.

..apart from that, I really dig writing for brass band. It's a challenge.

Adrian :-)


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