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"A Rose by any other name".

To: Nigel Horne <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "A Rose by any other name".
From: "Bill Walker" <Walker@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 10:30:06 -0800
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yesterday evening I was part of a very interesting discussion on why we
in the Brass Band movement call our instruments by strange names and
indeed why all of our music is in the treble clef despite the fact that
our instruments may have ranges not within the treble clef.
For instance, we "brass people" call my horn a baritone. Yet,  I have
heard it better described as a tenor tuba. The tenor horn sounds very
little like the tenor trombone and has a different tonal range and is
more accurately described as an alto horn.
Yet, we insist they are both tenor instruments!
In the un-enlightened days of my youth tenor trombone music was written
in the tenor clef but now in North America it's written in the bass clef
as is the baritone. One posting  indicated that the tenor clef was now
only seen in "older" (as in the days of my youth)  music written for the
trombone. All of this is confusing to me a mere neophyte and makes me
think the Philistines (those who are not traditional brass bands folk)
are right in their assumption that we are at least different.
I have a trombone that I'd like to learn how to play also but I cannot
find a tutor book in the treble clef in any of the several music stores
around here.
The trombone gathers dust because I don't want to learn the bass clef
which is like a new language to me!
Would it be correct to say that the tonal ranges we describe as bass,
baritone, tenor and alto relate in part to the original instruments
i.e.. the various human voices?
If so, where did we get the treble clef from?
If my C sounds lower than the cornets C,  why are we both considered
along with the real tubas to be ranged in the treble clef for brass band
purposes?
No, I'm not a revisionist it's just that I'm interested in why we are
different!
Finally, was it merely a convenience for us to adapt the treble clef.
Is that one of the reasons the self described proponents of higher forms
of music describe us as being a lower form of music. (Wonder where that
leaves the Spice Girls?).
Also, why, do we resist the use of trumpets in our bands by saying they
are not traditional brass band instruments yet we countenance
Glockenspiels and Timpani which were unheard of when I was a lad?
And why is a French Horn so different from another all brass valved
instrument even though it looks and sounds similar?
And how did the Flugel horn sneak into brass bands, albeit years ago
when we were so keen to exclude?
No, I actually think we are a valid art form no more or no less
pertinent than the orchestral types but I do have difficulty
understanding why we are or must be so completely different and I'm sure
I'm not alone!
BillW


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Follow-Ups:
- Re: "A Rose by any other name".
  - From: Ken Pilsbury

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