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The composers view

As the list is a little quiet at the moment I thought that it might be
interesting, particularly as we hear a lot from players less from conductors and
perhaps even less from audiences, to generate some thought and maybe a little
discussion by sending a posting about the composers view of banding.

Why compose?

I write this section mainly as encouragememnt for young composers.

Well for many composers the real question is how not to compose. When one has
learnt a craft there is a compulsion to use it. Obviously the proffessional
composer has an interest in paying the mortgage.

Incidentally being a professional composer does not neccesarily make one a
better composer than an amateur.The real distinction betweenthe two should not
need pointing out on a brass band site of all places. But a professional does it
for money and amateur does it for love. In order to get to the stage where one
can earn a decent living from writing music a LARGE number of contacts need to
be made and maintained. Remember that publication is no certification of
quality. All it really means is that someone is confident that they can make
more money of what has been published than they would have made if it had not
been published! Remember that it is normal for composers to make only 5% of
sales on published music. Next time you read "Photocopying  this work deprives
the world of new music and the composer of a living" Please remember to add and
the publisher of making 19 times as much as the composer.

It is the act of writing music that makes someone a composer not whether it gets
published. Generally I am to busy writing music to have time to spend promoting
it. I find that sort of work tedious and demeaning In order to earn a lot of
money one needs to do a LOT of Networking/brownnosing call it what you will. In
these days of self promotion being so important I compose because it amuses me.
I like to think that I can communicate to other people something of the way in
which I see the world. (sounds a bit pretentious but it really is like that)

Generally I use my knowledge of styles of music to put soemthimg together that I
hope people will enjoy playing and listening to. Very occasionally I write
something big for myself but I don't really expect anyone to play it!!

The composer and bands.

I could go on for a VERY long time about this but there are just one or two
points that I would like to make about the difference between writing for brass
band and other media. These are by nom means the most important points but ones
which people might find interesting.

1) remember that basically the brass band is a consort. The way in which
instruments are scored down the page from top to bottom alone should show that.
There are differences between the sounds of the instruments but to the ear of
the uninitiated they are not really as great as they are to people in the know.

2) Writing for band is different to wriing for other ensembles in that the
instrumentation is so fixed. If I am writing for orchestra If I don't want
trumpets I won't use them If I need an extra flute I'll write the part for it.
We have a fixed set up and whatever the composer is writing he had better not
stray far fron the norm. This is not a complaint but an observation. An amatuer
group must always have something to play for ecervone, and there is really no
point in making demands that will be difficult to meet in terms of extra
players.

So what I am really saying is that the composers ideas when he is writing for
band must be modified to the type and numbers of instruments in the band set up.
This sometimes leads to muddy harmonies or bored players but that's the way it
is.

I have spent quite enough of my time in writing this and probably quite enough
of other listers I'm going to get back to the real business of spreading notes
around on paper but I hope that this posting may have given some folks food for
thought

All the best

Steve Watkins


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