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: Re: Bringing brass bands tothe(classical-minded) masses. Or not, . ..

Whilst it is true that many so-called arrangements are in fact
transcriptions, many transcriptions are excellent. I see no trend
that tells me that they are improving, or for that matter worsening,
when compared with some of the older standards such as The Force of
Destiny.

We are on unsteady ground when comparing with the original. I instill
on my pupils the need both the be faithful and yet to endeavour toward
a transcription which sounds as though the music were originally written
for brass band. This may seem a contradiction; it is this inner
battle that makes the job more art than science.

I hear rumours that music professors, when teaching orchestration, will
run the original through software and compare the results with students'
submissions to check that the students really have been doing the job
rather than leaving it to a computer. My pupils raise their eyebrows
when I tell them that I prefer pen and paper when I write music (see
my recent essay on that matter).

On the topic of "Gems of the Opera" etc., it is true that many of these
arrangements were poor by today's standard and are, quite rightly,
rarely performed. However, I tend to put them in the historical context
that they were a first class method of bringing "the latest melodies of
Herr Wagner" to the often working class and illiterate masses who would
otherwise never be offered the opportunity to hear (and more importantly
perform) such great works because of the poor state of education before
the First World War.

When I am planning a concert I always endeavour to put on at least one
original brass band piece. This does not have to be a test piece (why
do we always have to think that serious music = test piece music?),
but it should at least stretch the audience a bit. Patronising audiences
by only playing what we tell ourselves they want to hear (Amarillo
anyone?) in a dumbed down way will eventually drive away the audience.

There is no need to play Labour and Love everywhere, but surely we can
find room for some original brass band music even if it is only a
short 2 minute fast and furious number to open the 2nd half of a
concert.

If we are not to play it, who is? We cannot blame the BBC and Classic FM
if we do not even use the material ourselves. How many brass bands have
recently commissioned a piece of music? How many bands have a resident
composer/arranger? No, they don't need to cost the Earth. Just ask a
budding 16yr old GSCE student to write a piece of music and promise to
run it through for them (that will typically cost the band nothing). I
firmly believe that more conductors should be doing this. Here's a novel
idea - why not approach music teachers at your local school to put in
place just such a scheme?

-Nigel

--
Nigel Horne. Arranger, Adjudicator, Band Trainer, Composer, Typesetter.
NJH Music, Barnsley, UK.  ICQ#20252325
njh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.bandsman.co.uk

--

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