Dave Payn
Active Member
I was pondering this whilst conducting Merton Concert Band last Wednesday. Why is the brass band instrumental set up so rigid? I should add here that this is not going to be another rant about occasionally bringing French horns into the fray, or even suggesting the use of trumpets (phew!) but even sticking purely with brass band instrumentation, why can’t we vary our instrumentation somewhat? I mean, the occasional test piece which has a section for two flugels is almost seen as a freak example because it’s so rare!!
So why did I mention Merton Concert Band? Because in any given rehearsal/programme I conduct, the instrumentation can vary somewhat. There’ll be some pieces which include E flat clarinet, some that won’t (Holst’s First Suite in Eb calls for two Eb clarinets!), Sometimes there’ll be a part for one or even two piccolos, sometimes none. Sometimes, you’ll have parts for alto and contra-bass clarinet (Gallimaufry – Guy Woolfenden, for instance). Some of the brass instrumentation can vary, from pieces with 2 cornet and 2 trumpet parts (dedicated, separate parts for both in the case of, say, works by Clare Grundman), some with just three trumpet parts, some with four. In most cases, (i.e. the flute/piccolo and Bb/Eb clarinet) you usually find players who ‘double up’ on both (there again, in a lot of cases, the trumpet/cornet parts will probably all be played on trumpets – in an amateur band situation anyway).
My point is this:, rather than say necessarily bringing in extra players, why not have one or two on the front row doubling up on say, sop or flugel to either combine with the regular sop/flugel to vary the tone colour in the treble range a bit more or take the weight off of them. For a medium which, with regards to scoring (all except bass trombone in treble clef) supposedly encourages players swapping instruments, why not do it within a rehearsal/performance, rather than just staying on one instrument for a dedicated period of time? I personally find the brass band medium (particularly in the upper registers) rather limiting with what you can do, writing or arranging wise. As there is but one sop, a lot of the writing/arranging tends to encourage the theory that the sop is only there to deal with the high register stuff, when it could and should be about far more than that. One might say it’s difficult to get one sop/flugel in tune, why try it with two or three? Same could be said of Eb clarinets and piccolos, but the wind band survives those problems (most of the time?). I also find that the more you play some of the ‘specialist’ instruments or double up on them, perhaps intonation may become less of an issue. I rarely hear good Eb trumpet players play wildly out of tune in the lower registers, but it’s something (even in top section bands) I hear quite a lot from sops in the banding world. Why? Not because dedicated sop players aren’t as able as good trumpeters, but simply because it’s (a) treated as such a specialist area and as a result(b) I refer to my earlier point about the writing designed to encourage expertise in the high register and not much else.
I think the OCCASIONAL use of added sops and flugels (again, NOT by adding players but utilising the ones already in the band) could add a nice variety to what can be a monotonous tone colour at times (in the sop’s case, utilising more of its register).
Sure, I’m biased about this being raised as a trumpeter, regularly encouraged to mix between Bb, Eb, Piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn (and even cornet! – not that I claim to be proficient in any of them – you know, jack of all trades, master of none!) and the point of this is not to deliberately wind up the ‘traditionalists’ out there, but just to speculate whether the brass band instrumentation is ever likely to vary in the foreseeable future and to lay the case for actually (occasionally) doing so! Orchestras do it, wind bands do it, brass ensembles do it? Why should the brass band be so rigid?
As ever, with tMP. I look forward to my opinions being challenged! ;-)
Regards
So why did I mention Merton Concert Band? Because in any given rehearsal/programme I conduct, the instrumentation can vary somewhat. There’ll be some pieces which include E flat clarinet, some that won’t (Holst’s First Suite in Eb calls for two Eb clarinets!), Sometimes there’ll be a part for one or even two piccolos, sometimes none. Sometimes, you’ll have parts for alto and contra-bass clarinet (Gallimaufry – Guy Woolfenden, for instance). Some of the brass instrumentation can vary, from pieces with 2 cornet and 2 trumpet parts (dedicated, separate parts for both in the case of, say, works by Clare Grundman), some with just three trumpet parts, some with four. In most cases, (i.e. the flute/piccolo and Bb/Eb clarinet) you usually find players who ‘double up’ on both (there again, in a lot of cases, the trumpet/cornet parts will probably all be played on trumpets – in an amateur band situation anyway).
My point is this:, rather than say necessarily bringing in extra players, why not have one or two on the front row doubling up on say, sop or flugel to either combine with the regular sop/flugel to vary the tone colour in the treble range a bit more or take the weight off of them. For a medium which, with regards to scoring (all except bass trombone in treble clef) supposedly encourages players swapping instruments, why not do it within a rehearsal/performance, rather than just staying on one instrument for a dedicated period of time? I personally find the brass band medium (particularly in the upper registers) rather limiting with what you can do, writing or arranging wise. As there is but one sop, a lot of the writing/arranging tends to encourage the theory that the sop is only there to deal with the high register stuff, when it could and should be about far more than that. One might say it’s difficult to get one sop/flugel in tune, why try it with two or three? Same could be said of Eb clarinets and piccolos, but the wind band survives those problems (most of the time?). I also find that the more you play some of the ‘specialist’ instruments or double up on them, perhaps intonation may become less of an issue. I rarely hear good Eb trumpet players play wildly out of tune in the lower registers, but it’s something (even in top section bands) I hear quite a lot from sops in the banding world. Why? Not because dedicated sop players aren’t as able as good trumpeters, but simply because it’s (a) treated as such a specialist area and as a result(b) I refer to my earlier point about the writing designed to encourage expertise in the high register and not much else.
I think the OCCASIONAL use of added sops and flugels (again, NOT by adding players but utilising the ones already in the band) could add a nice variety to what can be a monotonous tone colour at times (in the sop’s case, utilising more of its register).
Sure, I’m biased about this being raised as a trumpeter, regularly encouraged to mix between Bb, Eb, Piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn (and even cornet! – not that I claim to be proficient in any of them – you know, jack of all trades, master of none!) and the point of this is not to deliberately wind up the ‘traditionalists’ out there, but just to speculate whether the brass band instrumentation is ever likely to vary in the foreseeable future and to lay the case for actually (occasionally) doing so! Orchestras do it, wind bands do it, brass ensembles do it? Why should the brass band be so rigid?
As ever, with tMP. I look forward to my opinions being challenged! ;-)
Regards