New Band Music - What do YOU want?

[Roger Thorne]

The Music Man wrote:

I gather you must like Steve Hacket stuff then... have you heard the "Genesis Revisited" track? Opens with brilliant weird sounds and effects building into "Dance on a Volcano" ... WOW. I really wish I had more ability to do arrangements because I firmly believe some of Genesis music would be great scored for band. They tend to use a lot of 5/4, 7/8 non standard time sig stuff which always adds that 'interesting' element to music in my opinion. Take Phillip Sparke, Gregson etc....

I was interested to read John's posting about the music of 'Genesis' and how some of their music would make great band arrangements.

This has promted me to add a topic What do YOU want?
As a Composer and Arranger I am always looking for new ideas, particularly for band arrangements and on several occasions have had different requests similar to the one above put to me. ie. 'Come on Eileen' and 'Bat out of Hell'.

To arrange these pieces of music for the commercial market you obviously have to apply for copyright permission which can sometimes take months to obtain and usually at great expense. Because of this I have never followed up these requests as I presumed there would not be sufficient sales to cover the costs of producing the arrangements.

However, through this Forum site there is now an opportunity for you to voice your ideas and opinions as to what new music you would like to see available for band.

If there is an overwhelming interest in arranging music of a particular genre, then I might just re-consider the commercial element and pursue some of the ideas.

Today's Brass Band Publishers are churning out all sorts of new arrangements - usually the latest cinema blockbuster - which is all well and good, but to be honest, is only as popular and topical as long as it is being shown at the Cinema!

Some of the 'Classic' rock/pop tunes date back 20 - 30 years and are still as popular today. So it might be an avenue well worth exploring.

If you have any suggestions please give as much information on the music as possible. This will help me identify the publishing companies involved and speed up any copyright requests.

I look forward to your replies.

 

[dyl]

Personally I've been looking for a song called 'Pity The Child' from the musical 'Chess' by those blokes from Abba. I heard this for the first time this summer being sun in an open air concert at the Faenol Festival in Bangor and the song has stuck with me ever since.

I had hoped that there was an arrangement, selfishly, of this song as a horn solo :wink: , but haven't managed to find an arrangement of it.

Also, I really love the musical 'Miss Saigon' but find that there is a severe shortage of brass band arrangements of the songs from this musical - songs which I believe would go down extremely well in concerts.

 

[Roger Thorne]

New Music

Hi Dylan,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am not that familiar with the music, but I have just visited a 'Chess' Web Site and listened to the music 'Pity the Child'. Good isn't it! - I agree, it would make a lovely horn solo.

I will make some further enquiries regarding copyrights and costs.
It may be a while before I hear anything from the publishers but if I'm successful in a copyright application I'll let you know.

:wink:

 

[rutty]

Not new stuff, but I've always thought that Gustav Mahler is overlooked quite a bit for arrangement. My favourite piece of music of all time is his second symphony "Resurrection" that has the finale to end all finales!

The fourth movement though is a gorgeous Soprano solo and I think that it would make a wonderful solo for cornet. I think arranging the whole symphony would be a bit of a task, seeing as it's 70 mins in length!

I also like the music to Stargate but I think there's already an arrangement of that. What about the theme to Farscape? Would be a challange </scifi geek!>

 

[dyl]

Re: New Music

Hi Dylan,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am not that familiar with the music, but I have just visited a 'Chess' Web Site and listened to the music 'Pity the Child'. Good isn't it! - I agree, it would make a lovely horn solo.

I will make some further enquiries regarding copyrights and costs.
It may be a while before I hear anything from the publishers but if I'm successful in a copyright application I'll let you know.

:wink:

Hi Roger

I'm glad you agree! I hope you have some success.

Cheers,

Dylan.

 

[Roger Thorne]

Hi, Rutty.

I agree, some of Mahlers' works would make terrific band pieces. As far as I am aware his music is public domain (not copyrighted) so producing an arrangement should not be a problem.
I have a couple of LP's (remember them!) of his symphonies so I shall root them out and have a listen over the Christmas break.
As you suggest, due to the length (70 mins!!) it may be worth selecting just the 'juicey bits' or just the fourth movement and producing it as a solo item.
I'm not sure about the other two, 'Stargate' and 'Farscape' but I'll make some enquiries.

Thanks for your suggestions.

:wink:

 

[Roger Thorne]

Dylan wrote:

I really love the musical 'Miss Saigon' but find that there is a severe shortage of brass band arrangements of the songs from this musical - songs which I believe would go down extremely well in concerts.

Hi Dyl,

I have just come across a Midi file site which has a Brass Band arrangement of the music from Miss Saigon - thought you might be interested. I have checked the Just Brass Catalogue and it is arranged by Andre Waignein, although the price is not available. It sounds like a good arrangement.

Click the following link for a listen.

http://www.classicalmidi.gothere.uk.com/brassfilm.htm

 

[picju96]

our percussionist is arranging miss saigon for brass band at the moment. its just being finalised.

 

[dyl]

Dylan wrote:

I really love the musical 'Miss Saigon' but find that there is a severe shortage of brass band arrangements of the songs from this musical - songs which I believe would go down extremely well in concerts.

Hi Dyl,

I have just come across a Midi file site which has a Brass Band arrangement of the music from Miss Saigon - thought you might be interested. I have checked the Just Brass Catalogue and it is arranged by Andre Waignein, although the price is not available. It sounds like a good arrangement.

Click the following link for a listen.

http://www.classicalmidi.gothere.uk.com/brassfilm.htm

Thanks Roger.

Happy New Year to you when it comes!

 

[dyl]

our percussionist is arranging miss saigon for brass band at the moment. its just being finalised.

Please keep me informed!

 

[hornblower]

we did a version of "The Battle of Jericho" arr for a wind band, incl flutes, clarinets, etc as well as brass... however it is sooo good I wondered if anyone had come across it arr for just brass?

 

[sparkling_quavers]

What about an arrangement of 'it's raining men'?

 

[Fishsta]

LOL... It's Raining Men?

That would be another addition to the "Cheese" list, I think!

 

[sparkling_quavers]

nothing wrong with cheese :wink:

so, do you reckon you could do that....you might sell one copy ! 8)

 

[picju96]

we did a version of "The Battle of Jericho" arr for a wind band, incl flutes, clarinets, etc as well as brass... however it is sooo good I wondered if anyone had come across it arr for just brass?

ah thats great! we did it in school this christmas with a chamber orchestra and an 80ish person choir, it was great!

 

[hornblower]

I know.... we did it at school in the wind band... I miss it... have a really bad reacording of us tunelessly killing it, and it still sounds like a good piece of music!!!

 

[davidsait]

nothing wrong with cheese :wink:

Indeed.


However, what *I'd* like is for Brass Band arrangements of film music to be available within a month of the film being premiered at the cinema, rather than us having to wait 12 months (or longer), and everyone forgetting how the tune goes.
You often find that the guitar, or 'easy piano' arrangements are in the shops pretty quickly for people to pick through, but it sometimes seems ages before the band version is released.
Hopefully now that Warner has its own Brass Band catalogue, some of their film music will be swifter to print, but I'd like to see more cooperation between the movie companies and music publishers.
I realise that a good arrangement takes time, but it is surely possible to improve the current situation.
Example. The score for Chicken Run is still in manuscript, not published (at least, it wasn't in December). I'd have loved to play that a month after the film was shown, or even sooner, but its getting a little late now.

Dave Sait

 

[stephen2001]

we did a version of "The Battle of Jericho" arr for a wind band, incl flutes, clarinets, etc as well as brass... however it is sooo good I wondered if anyone had come across it arr for just brass?

It's great for trombones when all the parts are covered! I played it at the Albert Hall (Nottingham!) and wondered if there might have been a BB arrangement of it.
It would be a pity if there isn't! :?

 

[Roger Thorne]

Davidsait wrote:

However, what I'd like is for Brass Band arrangements of film music to be available within a month of the film being premiered at the cinema, rather than us having to wait 12 months (or longer), and everyone forgetting how the tune goes.

I'd like to see more cooperation between the movie companies and music publishers.

I believe the problem here is the Music Publishers not the movie companies. I publish Brass Band music, and I am constantly applying for copyright permissions for all sorts of music, but sometimes have to wait months for copyright's to be granted.

To give you an example I applied to a Music Publishing Company in London for copyright permission to the song 'Up On The Roof' back in April, 2000. At the time the song had just been re-released by Robson and Jerome, who you will remember were very popular at the time. The publishers requested that they see a copy of the arrangement before granting copyright permission. I returned a copy of the score within two weeks.
After numerous letters and e-mails I eventually got a reply in March 2001 apologising for the delay. They had granted me permission to arrange the music and promised to send the copyright acknowledgements as soon as possible. Again after many reminders I am still waiting for the copyright acknowledgement to arrive. It is now 2003! - Robson and Jerome having long gone!

I have recently talked to Ray Farr about this issue and he assured me that he too has the same problems. It is quite common to wait several months for the publishers to respond to any copyright applications, if they even bother to reply at all.

On the other hand I have recently e-mailed another Music Publisher in London requesting four copyright applications and they have replied, favourably I might add, within six days.

If anyone knows any secrets for speeding up copyright applications please make sure I'm the first to know!!

 

[davidsait]

Davidsait wrote:

However, what I'd like is for Brass Band arrangements of film music to be available within a month of the film being premiered at the cinema, rather than us having to wait 12 months (or longer), and everyone forgetting how the tune goes.

I'd like to see more cooperation between the movie companies and music publishers.

I believe the problem here is the Music Publishers not the movie companies. I publish Brass Band music, and I am constantly applying for copyright permissions for all sorts of music, but sometimes have to wait months for copyright's to be granted.

I thought that might be the case. What I'd like is for the movie companies to be contacting publishers and composers to get the arrangements done. Ok, that might not be how it works now, but it would be good if it did.

Dave Sait