Top 20 Melodies on All Brass Radio Station for March, 2017

[DocFox]

1. Pikes Peak Brass Band - Seize The Day
2. Hitchin Band - Because (Sarah Gibbons, Tenor Horn)
3. Fodens Band - Procession to the Minster
4. Oberaargauer Brass Band - Gettysburg (Reunion And Finale)
5. Fodens Band - Dundonnell from Hymn of the Highlands
6. Chicago Staff Band - Joyous Song
7. NSK-RHP Ransom Band - John Williams The Movies
8. Grimethorpe Colliery Band - MacArthur Park
9. Hitchin Band - Concerto de Arnajuez (Alice Bailey, Flugel)
10. Kirkintilloch Band - Hymn To The Fallen (Saving Private Ryan)

11. Black Dyke Mills Band - Mars, The Bringer of War
12. The International Staff Band Of The Salvation Army - Soli Deo Gloria
13. Spiritual To The 'Bone - Linus & Lucy
14. YBS Band - Ardross Castle
15. YBS Band - Dundonnell
16. International Staff Band - You Raise Me Up
17. Dalewool Auckland Brass - Pirates of the Caribbean
18. Enfield Citadel Band - A Gaelic Blessing
19. Hitchin Band - A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Mike Thorn, Trombone)
20. All Star Girls Of Brass - 1812 Overture

Listen for Free by Pressing on this sentence.

Seize the Day by Pikes Peak Brass Band (a top 1st division US band) has been #1 or #2 for a number of months. I have built into my voting program a "non-flooding" routine. I will not go into detail how it works, but it keeps too many votes for a piece to be made at one time. In other words, it keeps a band member or a band from voting on their melodies lots of times at once.

Without the "non-flooding" routine, the voting would come down to who listens the most often. Not what I wanted out of the voting system. I believe Pikes Peak stays near the top for two reasons. First, Seize The Day is a wonderful melody. Second, it was a superb effort by Pikes Peak. No doubt in my mind they will soon be a Championship Division band.

This month held a record number of listeners to the station. It also had a record number of votes. The Android and iOS apps allow listeners to listen anywhere and still be able to vote. I recently found out that thousands of listeners have downloaded these apps.

About 45 tracks were removed this month, and 30 new ones added. I try to eliminate tracks that are not too popular and replace them with new tracks. Remember too, that Chris Helme's "Sunday Bandstand" can be heard on the station at Noon Eastern Time in the US and 5 PM GMT (London) every Sunday.

Remember, if you would like to have your band played on the station with some free publicity, all you have to do is donate a CD. Details are on the Front Page.

I miss chatting with a lot of you, but as many of you know, I became the American whipping boy. I got tired of that so I no longer participated.

 

[DocFox]

Friends,

I wrote a page on "What is a Brass Band?" for the radio website. I know it has been done by NABBA and lots of bands. It has been done on Wikipedia, but it was not a good job done there. I would love some critique of the page which can be found here.

If you do not wish to appear critical, please feel free to PM me or email me at drjafox@gmail.com with your comments.

I appreciate anyone who looks at the page for taking the time to look at the page and make comments. I bring brass band music to the world, but my goal is to promote banding. The movement is growing by leaps and bounds in Canada and the US. But British Style Brass Bands are often confused with New Orleans Jazz brass bands and even wind bands. It is my hope to help clear up any misconceptions.

Thanks, Doc

 

[katieeuph]

Just one point really- English style Brass Band? Do you mean British- there's a big difference!

 

[DocFox]

Great Point - Thank you!

 

[Andrew Norman]

A good attempt to describe the peculiarities of the Brass Band to a non-specialist readership.
I would just say that the first paragraph needs some adjustment. I hope that my comments may help - although I am sure that others will have differing views.

"The brass band movement started in Britain in the early 19th century. For many years bands served as places where people could gather socially after work or church. In the very early years, there were three types of bands, military, brass, and church. As things continued to develop they bands split into Brass Bands and Salvation Army bands. The Salvation Army bands are just slightly different than a competitive brass band."

In my limited experience the earliest bands in Towns and Villages were a combination of all sorts of Wind Instruments. Photos on the wall of my old band included Clarinets, Helicons and even Serpents well into the 19th century. The development of valve instruments in Europe by Sax, Distin and others helped create the "all brass" band but instrumentation was only "finalised" by the creation of National Competition Rules (this has been discussed elsewhere on this forum).

Military bands opted for the "wind band" format (why ?) although the Women's Royal Army Corps Band (WRAC) for some reason was all brass - which would've made it the only professional brass band.

 

[Mesmerist]

I think I'd add in somewhere that the majority of players are amateur and not paid. Also don't the Salvation Army believe playing is giving glory to God and so therefore never contest as this distracts from their purpose. They used to frown upon their members playing with ordinary bands once upon a time although I'm sure this has relaxed now.

 

[PeterBale]

Military bands opted for the "wind band" format (why ?) although the Women's Royal Army Corps Band (WRAC) for some reason was all brass - which would've made it the only professional brass band.

The origin of the military band precedes the development of valved brass by some considerable time, early groups consisting of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, natural horns with a serpent supporting the bass line, together with the Turkish Janissaries providing the colourful percussion. As for the WRAC band it definitely did include woodwind, as the images on google show quite clearly, although whether that was for its whole existence I would not know.

 

[DocFox]

The origin of the military band precedes the development of valved brass by some considerable time,

In my limited experience the earliest bands in Towns and Villages were a combination of all sorts of Wind Instruments. Photos on the wall of my old band included Clarinets, Helicons and even Serpents well into the 19th century.

Thanks, Peter & Andy. I got my info from the NABBA site. I didn't want to go deep into the history and so I used NABBA's simple one (hence the reference to their site). The history is very long and complicated. I looked for a book on it and found one for $135! Whew!

After reading many, many bands' histories, it is obvious many started out including woodwinds. I can see where that section needs some clarification. Thank you, gentlemen, I will work on that section a bit. But I not going into a long history, but will instead stick with NABBA's brief history.

 

[DocFox]

I think I'd add in somewhere that the majority of players are amateur and not paid. Also, don't the Salvation Army believe playing is giving glory to God and so therefore never contest as this distracts from their purpose? They used to frown upon their members playing with ordinary bands once upon a time although I'm sure this has relaxed now.

Good point about the Amateur part (although when I mentioned that point on this board I got blasted). I have a good friend who is the Coordinator of the Salvation Army bands for Canada. I was hoping he would write a page on Salvation Army bands. You are right, they believe music, even secular music, is a gift from God and should be played to His glory. They also do not contest -- not part of their mandate at all. The bands are slightly different (usually) than contesting bands. They don't use a Repiano Cornet and often have 5 tubas. If they play a piece written for a brass band, they will pull someone from the back bench (according to my friend) to play the Repiano part.

 

[Andrew Norman]

As for the WRAC band it definitely did include woodwind, as the images on google show quite clearly, although whether that was for its whole existence I would not know.

I can't remember where I dragged that up from in my mind. I stand corrected.

 

[2nd tenor]

I can't remember where I dragged that up from in my mind. I stand corrected.

I believe that you are correct in thinking that some of the military's band's have been brass only in the past but can't provide proof, well not now anyway. The (British) military do have three brass only bands, see: Brass bands - British Army Website

 

[DocFox]

I can't remember where I dragged that up from in my mind. I stand corrected.

Andy,
I am not going to go that far back. I sticking with what NABBA said for the most part. The station and the website's goal have been to promote banding. I think history would be and interesting addition, I would invite someone who knows a lot to write a page for the website. As for "What is a Brass Band?" I do not think a lot of history is required. Any takers on writing a historical page, just let me know (by PM or email).

Also, the US Army has a British Style Brass Band. The UK Army Brass Band sent to me tunes via the internet as a donation. Between those two, I received a lot of very good music. Our governments spending a little bit of money on brass banding. That really helps banding here in the US (not sure what impact it has in the UK).

 

[PeterBale]

I believe that you are correct in thinking that some of the military's band's have been brass only in the past but can't provide proof, well not now anyway. The (British) military do have three brass only bands, see: Brass bands - British Army Website

Prior to the recently ormed bands, the only all-brass combinations were Territorial Army bands.