Category Archives: Repertoire

QBOC2010Live—Thirty years of wind band commissions

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Timothy Reynish

Tim Reynish’s most recent appoint­ments are Tutor in the Fac­ulty of Inter­na­tional Cham­ber Music at the Royal North­ern Col­lege of Music, and vis­it­ing Pro­fessor in Orches­tral Stud­ies at the Con­ser­vatoire of Kharkov, Ukraine. He suc­ceeded Philip Jones as Head of School of Wind and Per­cus­sion, a post he retired from after more than a quarter of a cen­tury and developed the wind orches­tra of the RNCM to become recog­nised as one of the best in the world.

Tim’s lec­ture this morn­ing was titled ‘Eng­lish Renais­sance: thirty years of wind band com­mis­sions 1980–2010′. In his inim­it­able way, Tim presen­ted some of the most stun­ning wind band com­pos­i­tion from the last thirty years, many of which are still largely, and undeservedly, unknown. Tim played examples of the music of Ben­nett, Bing­ham, Maw, Mus­grave, Bour­geois, Ellerby, Gorb, Greg­son, Hes­keth, McNeff, Sparke and Woolfenden — a real eye-opener for many whose know­ledge of rep­er­toire is dom­in­ated by Amer­ican com­posers thanks to the over­whelm­ing mar­ket­ing of publishers.

Another won­drous hour in the pres­ence of Timothy Reynish.

Tim Reynish’s Thoughts On Conducting

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Timothy Reyn­ish is a pro­lific writer and com­ment­ator on wind band lit­er­at­ure and con­duct­ing. Luck­ily for us, he also tal­en­ted, good humoured, altru­istic and extremely gen­er­ous with his time and expert­ise. Espe­cially for QBOC2010, Tim has kindly provided us with a 24-page doc­u­ment on his ‘Thoughts On Conducting’.

In this art­icle you will find some of Tim’s ideas on the tech­nique of dir­ect­ing, choice of rep­er­toire, pre­par­a­tion, con­duct­ing tips, rehearsal tech­niques, score study, and links to find more information.

Down­load Tim’s Thoughts On Con­duct­ing and enjoy.

QBOC2010Live—Concert 2: Australian Army Band Brisbane

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Australian Army Band BrisbaneCap­tain Lind­say Mee, Conductor

Since its form­a­tion in 1949, the Aus­tralian Army Band-Brisbane (AAB-B) has become known through­out Queens­land as one of the finest Mil­it­ary Bands in Aus­tralia. The Band provides music for Regal, Vice-Regal, State and Cere­mo­nial occa­sions in addi­tion to per­form­ing at fest­ivals, giv­ing con­certs and present­ing pre­ci­sion march­ing dis­plays as well as ful­filling its mil­it­ary role as an Aus­tralian Army Band.

The pro­gram:

Com­mando March (Samuel Barber)
Fest­ive Over­ture (Shostakovich/Hunsberger)
Canticles (Johan de Meij)
Sym­phonic Dances from ‘Fid­dler on the Roof’ (arr. Hearshen)
I Dreamed a Dream (arr. King)
Bet­ter With a Band (arr. King)
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans (arr. Wilson)
Land of Make Believe (arr. Taylor)
The Boy Does Noth­ing (Dick­son)
Hoe Down from ‘Rodeo’ (Cop­land)
Night­fall in Camp (Pope)

Fea­tur­ing con­cert band and jazz ensemble rep­er­toire, this con­cert was a ter­rific way to end the first day of QBOC2010. The AAB-B play with tech­nical pre­ci­sion and music­al­ity and are a much under­val­ued part of Brisbane’s musical life.

QBOC2010Live—Concert 1: QCGU Brass Band

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QCGU Brass BandThe Con­ser­vat­orium Brass Band is a unique ter­tiary ensemble. Formed in 2006, this ensemble is based on the tra­di­tional Brit­ish Brass Band format. The QCGU Brass Band involves stu­dents from the Bach­elor of Music and Bach­elor of Music Stud­ies degree pro­grams and enables mem­bers to fur­ther develop their brass band train­ing in many areas includ­ing per­form­ance, know­ledge of rep­er­toire and ensemble direction.

After a morn­ing of con­duct­ing tech­nique ses­sions, del­eg­ates enjoyed the chance to relax and watch the QCGU Brass Band per­form, under the dir­ec­tion of Head of Brass, Greg Aitken.

The rep­er­toire for the con­cert was:

The Red Machine (Peter Gra­ham)
Song and Dance (Philip Sparke)
Beneath the Wil­lows (Philip Harper)
Con­certo for French Horn and Brass Band, 1st movt (Edward Greg­son)
Slaid­burn (Wil­liam Rim­mer)
The King­dom Tri­umphant (Eric Ball)

The Brass Band played a pol­ished and musical per­form­ance and con­grat­u­la­tions must go to soloists Dani­elle Rich (cor­net), Shan­nan Lawrence (flu­gel horn) and Sharn McIver (horn). The per­form­ance was not fault­less, but when listen­ing to a high qual­ity ensemble such as this it must be remembered that these are not pro­fes­sional musi­cians: they are stu­dents and they are learn­ing how to per­form in dif­fer­ent envir­on­ments. Greg Aitken has done an excel­lent job in train­ing his musi­cians: they are exposed to new and stand­ard brass band rep­er­toire, they are exposed to the exper­i­ence of being soloists with an ensemble (there were three stu­dent soloists on this pro­gram) and, in Ben Crocker’s case, to the exper­i­ence of conducting.

While listen­ing to this con­cert I couldn’t help but won­der why wind band con­duct­ors do not insist on their trum­peters play­ing cor­net when it is called for by the score (espe­cially when the score calls for a com­bin­a­tion of trum­pets and cornets–five trum­pets do not sound like three cor­nets and two trum­pets!) Alto sax­o­phon­ists have to double on sop­rano, flut­ists double on piccolo–why is there not more emphasis put on trum­pet play­ers to double on cor­net when required?

The intro­duc­tion of the Brass Band to the QCGU, led by Greg Aitken, will hope­fully help to cre­ate brass play­ers who are musi­cians with exper­i­ence of many styles of music, not just orches­tral stand­ards that many will not get the oppor­tun­ity to play again in later life.

Bravo to the QCGU Brass Band and Head of Brass, Greg Aitken!

Conservatorium Wind Orchestra concert

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QCM, GUCon­ser­vat­orium Wind Orches­tra
No Strings Attached
Fri­day 14 May
Con­ser­vat­orium Theatre, 8.00 pm
ADMISSION: Adults $26.50/Concessions & Groups $16.50/Schools $11.50. Book­ings: qtix on 136 246 or www.qtix.com.au.

Over­ture, Con­certo, Sym­phony — the musical forms of the clas­sical sym­phony orches­tra explode into life as the Con­ser­vat­orium Wind Orches­tra presents works from the clas­sical period to the present day with — No Strings Attached.

Over­ture
Mar­riage of Figaro (Moz­art arr. Duthiot)

Suite
Second Suite for Mil­it­ary Band in F major, op. 28, no. 2 (Gustav Holst)

Con­certo
Con­certino for Trom­bone and Wind Orches­tra (Ralph Hultgren)

INTERVAL

March
Mil­it­ary March in D (Lud­wig van Beeth­oven ed. John R. Bourgeois)

Fantasia
Fantasia on Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair (Mark Camphouse)

Sym­phony
Sym­phony for Band: Sym­phony no. 6  (Vin­cent Persichetti)

War Music

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marching bandTo cel­eb­rate ANZAC Day I’ve put together a quick list of music writ­ten dur­ing or inspired by the world’s great battles. You could use these pieces in a themed con­cert, for ANZAC Day ser­vices and cel­eb­ra­tions, or per­haps use them for a cross-curricular activ­ity with your school’s his­tory depart­ment. Is your favour­ite war piece miss­ing? Add it in the comments.

Gen­eral
April 25th, 1915 (Ralph Hult­gren) — great cere­mo­nial music for ANZAC Day ser­vices
Mars, The Bringer of War (Gustav Holst)
The Hornet’s Nest (Ralph Hult­gren) — Inspired by the F-18 Hor­nets and ded­ic­ated to the RAAF Hor­net Squad­ron
The War Tri­logy (1971, David Holsinger)

Bib­lical Wars
In The Spring, At The Time When Kings Go Off To War (David Hol­singer)
Jericho (Mor­ton Gould)

World War I
Col­onel Bogey (1914, Ken­neth J. Alford)
The Van­ished Army (1918, Ken­neth J. Alford)
The Mad Major (1921, Ken­neth J. Alford)
Salvum fac pop­u­lum tuum op. 84 “Lord Save Thy People” (1917, Charles-Marie Widor)

World War II
The Army Of the Nile (1941, Ken­neth J. Alford)
The Dam­busters (Eric Coates) — from the 1954 film
Com­mando March (1943, Samuel Barber)
Sym­phony No. 1 In Memorium Dresden (Daniel Buk­vich)
The Great Escape March (Elmer Bern­stein)
Amer­ican Salute (1943, Mor­ton Gould)
Lonely Beach, Nor­mandy 1944 (James Barnes)

Korean War
Inchon (Robert W. Smith)

Rapid Reading Day Wrapup

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QCM conductingMore than twenty ABODA QLD mem­bers atten­ded the Queens­land Conservatorium’s Rapid Read­ing Day on 21 Feb­ru­ary 2010. Led by Mr Ralph Hult­gren, with con­duct­ing assist­ance by David Jones and Claire Peth­er­ick (mem­bers of the Queens­land Con­ser­vat­orium full-time and ses­sional con­duct­ing staff and ABODA QLD mem­bers), par­ti­cipants in the after­noon pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment ses­sion exper­i­enced a range of qual­ity rep­er­toire avail­able for ensembles in 2010. The event was sup­por­ted by pub­lish­ers Alfred Music Pub­lish­ing Aus­tralia, Brolga Music Pub­lish­ing Com­pany, Encore Music Dis­trib­ut­ors and Hal Leonard Aus­tralia. To down­load the rep­er­toire list, click here.

QCM Reading Day

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ABODA QLD mem­bers and con­cert band dir­ect­ors should con­sider attend­ing the Queens­land Conservatorium’s Rapid Read­ing Day. It will gives teach­ers and con­duct­ors the oppor­tun­ity to hear qual­ity rep­er­toire avail­able for ensembles in 2010. You will be able to share and dis­cuss ideas and con­sid­er­a­tions for future per­form­ance. Par­ti­cipants are also encour­aged to bring their instru­ment and join oth­ers in per­form­ing these out­stand­ing new works. Con­tinue read­ing →

Big band reading session wrap-up

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Septem­ber 13: Queens­land Youth Orches­tra Big Band Con­cert and ABODAQ Big Band Read­ing Ses­sion. This per­form­ance and read­ing ses­sion gave attendees the oppor­tun­ity to listen one of Queensland’s premier youth Jazz Ensembles per­form and then par­ti­cip­ate in a rep­er­toire ses­sion con­sidered rel­ev­ant to today’s level 2 through 4 jazz ensembles. As part of the event we induc­ted six new stu­dent mem­bers of QYOBB who were music edu­ca­tion can­did­ates either study­ing at the Queens­land Con­ser­vat­ory or Grif­fith Uni­ver­sity. The after­noon was led by David Coit, music dir­ector of QYOBB and an ABODAQ man­age­ment com­mit­tee member.

The rep­er­toire was sponsored by Music Express and included:

Level 2
Blue Monk — Thel­o­nionius Monk arr. Berry
This is a flex­ible arrange­ment of this jazz stand­ard for ensembles that might not have a full com­pli­ment.
Pub­lished by Hal Leonard

Blues In Hoss Flat — Basie and Foster arr. Taylor
A great ver­sion of this shuffle tune for young bands–simple repet­it­ive rhythms with some good solo sec­tions.
Pub­lished by Hal Leonard

Basin Street Blues — Spen­cer Wil­li­ams arr. Sweeney
For every­one that knows this tune, this is a great, simple arrange­ment with great oppor­tun­ity for solo­ing in a simple key.
Pub­lished by Hal Leonard

Level 3
Free For All — Len­nie Niehaus
I like Niehaus stuff as he writes swing music that really accen­tu­ates the cor­rect rhythmic phras­ing for swing pat­terns. Well writ­ten with great artic­u­la­tion mark­ings — these pieces are always a pleas­ure to play and straight ahead for an audi­ence to listen to.
Pub­lished by Kendor

Spain — Corea arr. Jen­nings
A stand­ard in terms of big band genre and good chance for musi­cians to exper­i­ence tight, latin-type grooves.
Pub­lished by Hal Leonard

Jumpin East of Java — Set­zer arr. Holmes
Made fam­ous by the Brian Set­zer orches­tra, this is an upbeat tune that fea­tures a vocal­ist and great solos sec­tions. It’s a great arrange­ment of this tune and really swings along!
Pub­lished by Hal Leonard

Level 4
Theme From Fam­ily Guy — Mac­Far­lane and Zuck­er­man
While I’m not one for arrange­ments of TV themes this one really swings and has a great energy to it. Hard enough to be a chal­lenge but straight ahead enough for audi­ences — it’s a great tune for con­certs.
Pub­lished by Hal Leonard

Drivin — Adrien Re
This is a strong shuffle feel and really chal­lenges dif­fer­ent sec­tions of the band at dif­fer­ent times –repet­it­ive grooves in the rhythm sec­tion means that the sec­tion can really lock in and find the groove.
Pub­lished by Alfred

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Repertoire development workshop wrap-up

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Rep­er­toire Devel­op­ment Work­shop with Queens­land Wind and Brass. The focus of the even­ing was on con­cert band rep­er­toire between levels 1 and 4. Sev­eral clas­sics and mod­ern stand­ards from each level that are in print and read­ily avail­able at retail shops were presen­ted on the even­ing. The even­ing was led by Paul Kucharski, music dir­ector of QWAB and an ABODA QLD man­age­ment com­mit­tee mem­ber. Con­duct­ors included Alisa Jones, David Jones, Paul Kucharski, Lewes Ped­dell and Jes­sica White. The rep­er­toire was sponsored by (in alpha­bet­ical order): Billy Hyde Music, Brolga Music, Ellaways Music, Music Express, and Prestige Music. The suc­cess of this event has gen­er­ated the interest to rep­lic­ate the event in regional areas which will be made pos­sible by the agree­ment of all spon­sors for ABODAQ to retain the music.

The rep­er­toire per­formed on the night included:

Level 1
Wacky Waltz–Brian West (Brolga)
Ancient Voices–Michael Sweeney    (Hal Leonard)
Japan­ese Festival–Quincy Hil­liard (Carl Fisc­her)
The New Anzacs–Brian Hogg (Brolga)
Celtic Air and Dance–Michael Sweeney (Hal Leonard)
A Pre­his­toric Suite–Paul Jen­nings (Hal Leonard)

Level 2
Regi­mental Honor–John Moss (Hal Leonard)
Linden Lea–Ralph Vaughan Wil­li­ams (Boosey and Hawkes)
St Peters­burg March–Johnnie Vin­son (Hal Leonard)
Fire Dance–David Shaf­fer (Barn­house)
Soldier’s Pro­ces­sion and Sword Dance–Bob Mar­golis (Man­hat­tan Beach)
Asian Folk Rhapsody–Richard Saucedo (Hal Leonard)

Level 3
York­shire Ballad–James Barnes (South­ern)
Cajun Folk Songs–Frank Ticheli    (Man­hat­tan Beach)
Dia­mond Fanfare–Samuel Hazo (Hal Leonard)
March of the Bel­gian Paratroopers–Leemans/Swearingen (Hal Leonard)
Three Ayres from Gloucester–Hugh Stu­art (Shawnee Press)
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers–Ralph Ford (Bel­win)
Greensleeves–Alfred Reed (Barnhouse)

Level 4
Albanian Dance–Shelley Han­son (Boosey and Hawkes)
The Hornet’s Nest–Ralph Hult­gren (Brolga)