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Jeff Girard and Midwest Sheet Music present
The Wind Band Report
CBDNA and other news
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Vol. 6, No. 1 February 2018
Want to be added to a particular newsletter category?
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| It has been far, far too long since I was able to compose a new newsletter. Business has taken off tremendously, and I've been responsible for helping to build and develop our new website, so I've had very limited spare time. Now that the website is in a good place, I can get back to working on wind band materials and news again. |
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Midwest Sheet Music at
CBDNA conferences
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Midwest Sheet Music will be at all 5 of the CBDNA Regional conferences this year. I'll be bringing plenty of scores, music textbooks, and new wind band literature for you to peruse. While I myself will only be at 3 of the conferences personally, Jim Kerfoot, my able colleague from back in the Shattinger Music days, will be attending the other two and can get you taken care of.
If there's something you want us to bring to the conference for you to look at or pick up there, let me know as soon as you can and I'll see about getting it in before we leave for that event and putting it aside for you. Hopefully we'll get to meet many of you there in the coming weeks.
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A Wind Band podcast and a
Wind Band blog
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Just a couple of plugs for some online resources you should also be taking note of. Mark Conner hosts a weekly podcast called Everything Band where he interviews notable composers, conductors, and other figures of the wind band world. You can download them on your favorite podcast app or go to his website.
Andrew Pease continues his academic work with the Wind Band Literature blog. He reviews performances of wind band concerts he attends, comments on works he conducts with his band at Hartwick College in New York and other groups, and writes about other topics concerning the wind band repertoire. I highly encourage all of you to follow both of these fellows and keep yourself regularly informed on a variety of relevant areas.
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Do you have a summer
Conducting Symposium?
(or a conducting class)
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If you have a conducting symposium coming up that I haven't noted yet, or teach a conducting class, I can help get your repertoire list assembled for your participants and students to purchase. Just send me a message with the details of your symposium or class, the repertoire needed or suggested, and an approximate number of participants. I'll make sure to get all the repertoire into stock, then create a page your students can go to in order to see your rep list and get their materials all at once. I'll send you a link you can share with your participants so they can get their music and books easily.
Here's an example of what they'll see.
Click on a symposium to open it up and see the literature.
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New Books for Wind Band Directors
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Here's a listing of some recent books you might not be aware of. I have most of these on hand and should have copies at most of the CBDNA conferences. They're all readily available, so drop me a line if you want any of these and either won't be at CBDNA or I'm out of them when I get there.
Click the images below to view the book on our website and order.
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The Spark
Gary Gackstatter,
Ron Sikes
This is a fantastic book for both new music educators and established music veterans. Gary Gackstatter is a composer and conductor from St. Louis who believes that a spiritual well being is an important part of being a conductor or music teacher. "The Spark" is what he refers to as the inspiration that you have inside that makes you want to bring out the "aha!" moment in your students. As we age and continue to teach, it's easy to lose touch with that Spark that started us on the path to music in the first place.
While discussing this book, one of the things he told me is that your entire personality comes through when you conduct. If you are short tempered, that will reflect in your conducting. If you're stubborn, or disorganized, depressed, or angry, all of that will show in your conducting. The musical sound you get from your direction is an extension of who you are, and if you're not a good person, neither will your music be.
This book is a series of single page reflections, meditations, and thought exercises to help you get back in touch with your Spark and make you better able to pass it on to your students.
Book: 125p., $14.99
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Leading Tones
Leonard Slatkin
A follow up to his first book,
Conducting Business, this book
glimpses far beyond Slatkin's baton and casts an inquisitive eye upon many facets of the music industry. Although this anecdotal, episodically structured book occasionally touches on Slatkin's life as a musician and conductor, its principal preoccupation is with the business as a whole. From the rigors and peculiarities of the audition process to the often-strained state of labor relations in the symphony world, Slatkin presents his perceptions of a world at once tumultuous and static.
Book: 312 p., $27.99
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Behind the Baton
Gerard Schwaz
Behind the Baton is a quintessentially Schwarzian memoir: intrepid, forthright, risible, subtly self-assured, and entirely unpretentious. It offers an intimate inside look at a man whose immense talent is rivaled only by his humility and work ethic; a man who, for nearly fifty years, has strived to leave every orchestra and musician he touched better than when he found them. Whether you're a classical music aficionado, an orchestra initiate just cutting your teeth, or an everyday reader interested in the remarkable story behind an extraordinary man, Behind the Baton belongs on your nightstand..
Book: 378 p., $27.99
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Tuning for Resonance and Sonority
Richard Hahn
Richard has put together a very thorough and comprehensive book on the science of tuning and how to apply this knowledge with your wind band, while keeping the presentation and language very approachable. He dives into the detailed science of sound waves, "beats", harmonics, pitch perception, and more, then follows this up with an appendix summarizing in a clear and direct manner steps the director can take to use this knowledge with their ensemble, from individual note adjustments on instruments to band tuning suggestions, and common causes of sharpness or flatness on wind instruments.
Book: 123p., $16.95
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On the Principles and Practice of Conducting
Markand Thakar
This book is a practical manual for anyone who stands on a podium helping an ensemble make music. Each of the four chapters begins with a summary of the underlying principles, presents real-life applications, and offers exercises for developing skills.Video demonstrations of the exercises as well as downloadable scores and parts are available on a companion website. The parts, in multiple transpositions, allow for hands-on experience where standard instrumental complements are unavailable.
Book: 144 p., $29.95
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The Conductor's Companion
Ed. Gary Stith
100 outstanding middle and high school, collegiate and professional band and orchestra conductors passionately and candidly share their most powerful rehearsal techniques and cutting-edge program ideas in this concise and inspirational volume. Also included are fascinating historical facts about famous composers and conductors as well as inspirational quotes ideal for advocating music programs. It's an excellent university supplemental text and a "go-to" source for directors at all levels.
Book: 122 p., $19.99
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Instrumental Conducting Performance Materials
John Laverty
This book contains twelve short musical excerpts of great instrumental works-"mini scores" designed to accompany any instrumental conducting texts and intended to be performed in any instrumental conducting class. Each excerpt presents specific challenges for developing conductors to explore as they acquire knowledge, gain experience, and develop conducting techniques. The orchestration of each excerpt is designed to be flexible while at the same time providing high-quality music for use in any instrumental conducting class.
Book: 184 p., $39.95
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Courage of Composers and the Tyranny of Taste
Bรกlint Andrรกs Varga
Interviewer Balint Andras Varga has confronted thirty-three composers with quotations carefully chosen to elicit their thoughts about an issue that is crucial for any serious creative artist: How can one find courage
to deal with the sometimes tyrannical expectations of the outside world? The result is result is an imaginary roundtable at which we encounter fresh, revealing, previously unpublished statements from such world-renowned composers as John Adams, Friedrich Cerha, George Crumb, Libby Larsen, and several other famous composers.
Book: 272 p., $39.95
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Rehearsing the Band, Volume 3
Edited by John Zarco.
A continuation of the Rehearsing the Band series with chapters by esteemed conductors
Harvey Benstein, Richard Clary, Steve Davis, Rodney Dorsey, Amanda Drinkwater, Patrick Dunnigan, Richard Floyd, Robert Halseth, Robert Ponto, Robert Taylor and Frank Wickes, with a forward by Craig Kirchoff. The directors in this publication represent the very "best of the best" with years of experience conducting and teaching. They freely share their ideas, techniques, and philosophies that are sure to enrich anyone who reads this book.
Book: 144p., $19.95
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New Upper Level Works for Wind Band
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Unfortunately, with me having been unable to put out an issue of the Wind Band Report for so long, the number of tunes I would like to talk about is too unwieldy for one issue. I've made contact with new publishers like Aamano Music, Star Music, and Paul Noble who's catalogs I'm about to upload into our database shortly. There are numerous new pieces by independent composers like John Mackey, Aaron Perrine, David Maslanka, Roger Zare, Steve Danyew, Jim Stephenson, and several others. It's just too much for one issue though.
For now, here are 8 pieces you should know about that you probably haven't heard of yet. If you're coming to one of the CBDNA conventions, you'll get the opportunity to see much more new material, so I hope many of you can make it. Now that the bulk of my work on developing our website is largely under control, hopefully I can do a better job of keeping up to date on new works.
Click the images below to listen to these pieces on our website.
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Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Alex Poelman
(Click the "Parts" listing above to listen)
This has been my first go-to piece when someone capable of handling advanced literature asks me "what do you have that's new and good"? It's a seven movement symphony divided into two parts. Each movement is distinctive and unique, with exotic colors, compelling rhythms and lots of Eastern color. In addition, each movement stands apart as a complete, self-contained work. You can program a single movement, a trilogy, or any combination thereof and still get a satisfying performance of this challenging and engaging work.
Grade 6
Set Part 1 (Mvt 1-4), $250; Score $70
Set Part 2 (Mvt. 5-6), $250; Score $60
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Shakespeare Pictures
Nigel Hess
Shakespeare Pictures originates from incidental music composed for productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company and is now expanded and re-orchestrated to form a new three-movement suite for symphonic wind orchestra. the three movements are "Much Ado About Nothing", which was the entr'acte of the production which uses dance sequences from the show to form a joyous overture; "A Winter's Tale - The Statue", in which the statue of Hermione comes to life at the end of the play; and "Julius Ceasar - the entry to the Senate", where brass and organ herald the entrance and imminent death of Caesar. Movements 1 and 3 could also be used separately as a concert opener or closer respectively.
Grade 5
Set $180; Score $26.95
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Golden Hour
Joel Love
Golden Hour was originally the middle movement of a composition for saxophone octet called "Three Images", which the composer later transcribed for full band. In photography,
the term "the golden hour" refers to the time just before sunset or after sunrise, during which daylight is reddish and soft. The warm, softer, and more diffused light from the sun makes shadows less harsh, softens contrasts, and enhances the color of the subject. Likewise, this work is a warm pallet of sounds with indistinct murmurings and overlapping dynamic contrasts softening the edges all around. It's a good exercise in musical control and balance in way you may not have done before.
Grade 4
Set $100; Score $40
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Pageant of London
Frank Bridge
The Pageant of London
is Frank Bridge's only work for Wind Band, and had unfortunately been out of print for several decades. I remember directors asking for this when I first started work at Shattinger Music 20 years ago, so I was really surprised when it suddenly showed up one day with no announcement. It was a classic of the early days of wind band literature and deserves to come back into the fold of standard repertoire. It's in five movements, with 2 marches surrounding a pastiche of 3 folk tunes. One note, the original scoring did not include saxophones or bass clarinet, though an option on how to use them is included.
Grade 4
Set $180; Score $15.95
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Pictures At an Exhibition
arr. Malcom Binney
This setting of the famous Mussorgsky work is based on the original piano setting, not the famous Ravel transcription. As such, while some sections may bear some similarity to the Ravel, many others use a different approach to the orchestration, whether to a smaller or larger extent. The recording for this is being mastered now, but isn't ready for release just yet. When it is, I'll link it to this pieces entry on our website. If you want to compare versions, let me know and i can send you a list of available editions and sound links so you can compare. You could even compile your own performance from the arrangements of multiple settings if you wanted to be ambitious.
Grade 5.5
Set $270; Score $70
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Hymns from the Rig Veda
Gustav Holst; arr.
This piece came as a surprise to me. I had never heard of Holst's Hymns From the Rig Veda, a grouping of 4 song sets, each of which having a different voicing and orchestration. Bandmaster James Windram asked Holst for permission to arrange 2 of the songs for band, to which Holst agreed. Windram later helped repay him in part by helping Holst get his
First Suite in Eb published. In this setting, the editor has taken a third hymn form thesong set and arranged it in the style of Holst and inserted it between the two existing movements. These aren't your typical church chorale hymn settings. The recording on our web site is currently of the original vocal settings, until the publisher releases a band recording.
Grade 4
Set $85; Score $10
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Chorale Fantasia
Yasuhide Ito
This piece is based on the Bach chorale BWV622, "
O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sunde gross", which translates to "O mankind, mourn your great sins". Ito goes through a number of different musical styles and structures as he writes his impressions of desiring peace and hope in a world in which mankind has seemingly turned more cruel and violent in the past decades. It has some very powerful and dramatic moments along the way (the composer encourages multiple bass drums) before ending with a full statement of the chorale.
Grade 5
Set $220; Score $24
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Boat Trip
Adam Gorb
Adam Gorb wanted to write a piece that explored the more lyrical and tranquil sounds of the Wind Band, and composed this piece which sounds like something between a barcarole and a Gymnopedie by Satie. it contains a lot of intimate chamber writing along the way. In fact, I checked and noticed there was not a single full measure where the entire band plays together. It's not all sweet and light, the boat passes through some "rough water" along the way. Overall though, it's an excellent way to encourage chamber playing style in an accessible wind band work.
Grade 4
Set $125; Score $38
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| Hopefully I'll see several of you at the upcoming CBDNA conferences, and hopefully those attending the North Central or Southern divisions will see this before the conferences end. I'll follow up with a larger list of some of my favorite works from the last year. I plan on doing several composer and publisher features this summer and have them saved up so I can send them out on occasion next year when I again get to my busy periods. As always, let me know what you'd like me to talk about here. Have a great remainder of the school year. |
Thank you as always -
Jeff Girard
Instrumental Specialist
Instrumental Music (my direct line):
314/942-1522
General phone line:
314/291-4686
Fax:
314/291-4166
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