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Jul 31, 2017

Striving for balance with horns

Another curious Richard Strauss quote "If you can just barely hear the (French) horns on stage, the balance is perfect." Strauss clearly loved the horn - he wrote two concertos and his orchestral music is filled with famously difficult and copious horn writing. If he just barely wanted to hear the horns, why did he write 8 horn parts in Ein Heldenleben? The horn is the instrument that holds it all together in our ensemble - it is capable of incredible range, virtuosic techniq

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Jul 30, 2017

Go ahead - look at the trombones

Richard Strauss famously quipped "Don't look at the trombones; it only encourages them." It is an ironic observation coming from a composer/conductor who wrote really well for the trombones. Trombones are the soul of the brass ensemble - capable of tremendous power, dolce lyricism, and quiet elegance. The technical potential of the trombone is often misunderstood, as is its ability to beautifully execute a melodic line in any register of the instrument. The fact that most orc

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Jul 29, 2017

All about that bass

The notes are all entered into your score template - now what? Of course, the possibilities are nearly endless and there is no one right way to go about any of this. After listening to a recording of the piece several times, scrolling along in my score watching the notes I've entered, I'll start to make some basic notes or even move a few phrases around in my score. Generally, I'm inclined to start with the bass instruments because I'm a tuba player. Or you might think this i

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Jul 28, 2017

Getting started

As I wrote in Arrangement, Orchestration or Transcription, when scoring for brass I prefer to work from keyboard music. Even when doing a transcription, I'll look for the composer's piano version if available from which to work for a couple of reasons. First, it's easier - everything is in C (ever had to transpose horn in G or a D flat piccolo part). Second, I'm less likely to be influenced by the composer's choice of instrument. Perhaps most importantly, it provides some ins

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Jul 27, 2017

First impressions

Musicians spend years in solitude learning to perfect their craft, and are rightfully protective of what comes out of the horn. Musicians are also at the mercy of the composer, arranger, orchestrator, and copyist. If a chart is faulty, it can expose a musician to the stink eye from a colleague or conductor. It will also cause them to not trust the music in front of them and play with less confidence. Thy may not want to play your music in the future, which can affect your car

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Jul 26, 2017

Choosing a project

Never being one to shy away from difficult projects, in 1978 I set out to make a version of Toccata and Fugue for my brass playing colleagues in the Wheat Ridge High School band. I worked feverishly on it for weeks and excitedly put it in front of my friends one morning to read. It was a disaster directly from the upper left hand corner – the only parts that were even close were the tuba and trombone parts. My basic concept for transposition was just wrong and my trumpet and

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Jul 22, 2017

E flat linchpin

The liner notes for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble recording of Pictures at an Exhibition contain a brief account of Elgar Howarth's arranging process. He wrote something about a particular instrument (maybe a D flugelhorn in the Old Castle) being a linchpin. I'd be more exact, but the LP is in a sealed container in my crawlspace - and I just like the word. One of our regular trumpet players couldn't make the dates work for our first tour of the western United States in 200

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Less is more

Jul 20, 2017

Less is more

I had the great fortune to play bass trombone in Dave Caffey's excellent jazz band at the University of Denver. We played a lot of challenging stuff, and Dave is a great writer and arranger so we also had the privilege of playing new music written by him. Dave is a pro. We were rehearsing a piece one day (written by someone else) and Dave stopped the band to correct something. He looked at the offending musician, and then looked at his score, and then looked back up and said

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Jul 19, 2017

Why the piccolo trumpet is second fiddle

The way I think about writing for brass has evolved over the years, especially for the instruments with which I'm not intimately familiar. One hopes to keep learning new things, and to learn from previous experiences. I used to write a lot for the piccolo trumpet in my arrangements, and still use it quite a bit. But really, I mean, a lot. I had the good(?) fortune to write for a couple of guys that loved to play piccolo and it colored my judgement. I've since learned that pic

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Jul 18, 2017

One on a part

A friend just sent me a note on an earlier post, and he mentioned that he is writing a lot for brass band. I love the sound of a brass band, and I've wanted to find my mojo to write for that ensemble. But I can't, and it got me to thinking about why. I was fortunate to have done my undergraduate study at the University of Denver. I was one of only two tuba players in the program which meant a lot of chop time. DU does not have a football program so there was no marching band,

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