I've played in brass bands in US and UK and written for brass band. Are you a brass player? If not, how well do you know the brasses in the brass band? How much brass band have you LISTENED TO? if none or little, then drag tail over to iTunes or music and start listening. DO NOT listen to UK bands from the 49s or 50s; the style then is totally unidiomatic now--much less vibrato now. Next: A true brass band has instrumentation unfamiliar to most people in the US: cornets, tenorhorns in Eb (not the German things in Bb), baritones, etc. Each of these instruments is a unique color to which Americans are not accustomed. If you don't learn what these instruments sound like and what they can produce, you're cheating yourself and the band. If need be, go to the people who play those lesser-known instruments and get a live demo. Don't just think of Eb tenorhorn as a French horn, the cornets as trumpets, etc. That's another failing of some writers. The brass band sound is warm by nature, since all the instruments except the trombones are largely conical. So composers need to realize this for sake of contrast in the music. Textural variety can also be achieved via mutes , but that is not to be relied upon or overdone. To me the biggest deal in writing for brass band is to achieve tonal and textural variety given the somewhat homogeneous nature of the instrumentation. If brass band music is not in your experience set, get downloading from Black Dyke, Fodens, grimethorpe, etc. Feel free to email me off-list if you have specific questions. Jim Williams Euphonium player
Sent from my iPhone, so please pardon all the typos. On Jun 26, 2011, at 10:12 PM, "Adam Taylor" <[email protected]> wrote: > Greetings all! > > I have the opportunity to write for a local community brass band (The > Chester Brass Band in Chester, NS) and I am looking for any advice from > list members who have undertaken such things. THe only person I ever > knew personally that had written for brass band was my old professor, > Dr. Cardy, but he's passed away. > > I have the link to the bandsman.co.uk site on writing for brass bands, > but I am interested in hearing other perspectives and other people's > experiences on the matter. > > Any help would be appreciated. > > Sincerely, > Adam > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
