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Marches

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Marches
From: David Taylor <dtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 16:10:18 +0100
In-reply-to: <115932@smsltd.demon.co.uk>
Priority: low
References: <115932@smsltd.demon.co.uk>
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In message <115932@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Nigel Horne
<njh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>> But encouraging composers to write marches??? 
>
>Sure, why not.
>
>> Surely we have enough of this rather archaic form to satisfy our needs,
>
>Who says it's archaic? I never have enough new music of any genre to
>satisfy my needs - that's why I make music. If I felt my musical needs were
>satifsied I'd have stopped by now.

Marches for actually marching to, I mean.
>
>> and should be encouraging them to write in more subtle and interesting
>
>Who ever said that marches can't be subtle and interesting? I didn't.

In form, anyway, the march is a specifically unsubtle thing- play a
tune, play another tune, change to a related key (preferably the
subdominant), play a few more unrelated tunes, and then repeat the first
bit. It can be used as a vehicle to develop musical ideas, but how many
go beyond the basic form? In fact, it could be argued that doing
anything really interesting with a march interferes with it's original
and generally most important purpose. This is where we have to separate
the point of a march from the more abstract idea that is a march
specifically for performance.
>
>> ways. (Of course, if a composer had a vision which could only be
>> expressed as a march, then that's different...)
>
>The only vision which drives most music these days is pound signs.

As has been true for most of musical history. Bach wrote his set of
150-odd cantatas because it was part of his duties as Kantor at Leipzig
to produce a new one for performance every Sunday. He still regularly
produced masterpieces (not to mention the works that he undertook
outside of his duties -Die Kunst die Fuge (The Art of Fugue), for
example).

Dave Taylor


--

Follow-Ups:
- Re: Marches
  - From: Steve Larwood

References:
- Re: March definition
  - From: Nigel Horne

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