Wind Band Report Vol. 5 No. 2b

Jeff Girard and Midwest Sheet Music present

The Wind Band Report

Best of 2016-17

High School/Middle School edition

Vol. 5, No. 2b June. 2017

View past issues of the Wind Band Report.

Want to be added to a particular newsletter category?

Update your information to receive the newsletters you want.

Click to jump ahead to:

New Wind Band Works, Grade 1-3

I promised 2 follow up emails in my last Wind Band Report, here's number 1. I've assembled some of my favorite Grade 1-3 charts from the 2016-17 school year, focusing on smaller publishers and individual composers you might not have known about. If you want to hear about some grade 4-5 materials, click to see the version of the Wind Band Report for Collegiate directors, also sent out today. If you want to keep up on music and resources at that grade level, you can subscribe to that list as well.

First I've got a few announcements and reminders. If you want to just jump to the music, scroll down or click the link above.

Maecenas Music - first update

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, Midwest Sheet Music is now the American distributor for Maecenas Music from England. Nearly all of the Maecenas Music titles are now entered into our website with the new, lower prices. I'll do a separate email on their titles later this summer, but for now you can browse through their titles by searching for "Maecenas" on our website, or you can download a catalog to print and peruse at your leisure. They do have a few grade 2-3 materials, I'll point them out specifically in the future.

Recordings and scores for many of these are on the website already, more will be added in the coming days. There's a lot of gems hidden in this catalog that never got proper exposure, like Chris Coleman's Jazz Funeral, Fergal Carroll's Winter Dances, Christopher Marshall's Aue, and many more. I'll talk about some of them in an upcoming newsletter soon.

Chamber Winds added to website

One of the things I've been doing here is keeping a separate file of Chamber Wind literature to refer to for both stock and to help directors find some music. It took me a long time to put this together since leaving Shattinger Music, but I finally have enough of it done to take the next step. I've been able to integrate my database with our website. So there is now a good sized listing of chamber wind works available on our website. Plus, for most of them I have been able to integrate the instrumentation, so you can check to see what forces are called for.

There's still some fine tuning to do in order to get it nice and clean, so take a look and drop me a line if you see anything unusual that I should fix. After starting a search on our website, use the check boxes on the left side to specify "Chamber Ensemble". Of course I can always send you a copy of my personal database if you want to take a more focused look.

Wind Band Reading Session Reminder

Just a quick reminder of our Wind Band new music reading session on Saturday August 5 from 1-4 pm at MICDS here in St. Louis, followed by our after-music drinking party down the road at Lester's. Click here for details. There is no charge, so if you want to attend just send me an email to let me know you're coming and what part (if any) you'd like to play. This will help us make sure we get all parts covered come show time. See you there!

Wind Band Music - Grades 1-3

Here are just a few of the hundreds of titles that came out this last year that caught my attention. Maybe you missed some of these along the way and would like to give them a chance next year. If you want to see my listing for grade 4-5 music, click here to read my other newsletter for Collegiate directors.

Click on images to listen


Smileys Rolf Rudin Grade 1 This is a delightful little piece for beginners that will teach them to count carefully. Silences are just as important as notes! Rolf Rudin has written a number of works for young bands that are not well known outside of Germany. Listen to his other Grade 1 work Lost Message for another example of his compositional skill for beginning bands. Set $50	Mississippi Sawyer Meyers Grade 1.5 Based on a traditional fiddle tune, with an optional hand drum and washboard part if you have extra percussion needing something different to do. Articulations are important for getting the style right, so it's nice to be able to teach that at an early stage and show what a difference it makes. Set $45

Morning Mist

Kurtis Bertauch

Grade 2

The inspiration for this piece came during a marching band competition the composer attended where it rained off and on all day, but at one point the clouds broke open just a little bit and revealed a spectacular rainbow. What's even more spectacular is that the composer was just 15 years old when he wrote this. I hope he continues to write, he has the potential for a very bright future if this piece is his starting point.

Set $59

Briar Street Strut

Jared Spears

Grade 2

This piece is a good way to introduce young players to the concepts of the uniquely American musical style of jazz music. Besides the basic swing rhythms, there is a great deal of variety in the musical voicing, giving all players (including percussion) a chance to shine along the way while keeping the music from getting too formulaic in style and orchestration. There are a lot of good teaching moments in this piece.

Set $75

Malkauns

Lindsay Boyd

Grade 2

This was a late release that didn't get a lot of promotion, and I don't know if it will be promoted in publisher's 2017 catalog. The composer taught in India for a while and has incorporated some of the distinctive sounds of India into this piece. The "drone" is available as a free download or can be played on a marimba. The vocal chanting represents syllables used by a Tabla player learning the drum. This a great chance to expand the musical horizons of your students.

Set $65

Waltz?

John Paulson

Grade 3

We played this piece at last year's new music reading session, and I haven't been able to get the melody out of my head ever since. It's a wistful, longing, and slightly nostalgic melody that just seems to capture the spirit of the composer's intent so well (the character Laura from The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams). Awkard and elegant, exuberant and sad, there's a lot of emotion to convey here, plus a chance to work some cross-curricular teaching as well.

Set $65

Persian Dance No. 5

Amir Molookpour

Grade 3

Amire Molookpour is an Iranian composer who has written 6 Persian Dances thus far. Each one draws from a traditional style of Iranian/Persian music and sets it in a form approachable by high school or even advance middle school players. His 2nd Persian dance is being published by FJH this fall, but the other 5 are available now. Any of them would make a great introduction to Middle Eastern style music.

Listen to Dance 1; Dance 2; Dance 3; Dance 4; Dance 5; Dance 6.

Persian Dance 1, 3, 4, 5, or 6 - $100

Persian Dance 2 - $45

Great Wall (Legend of Qi Jiguang)

William Ownes

Grade 3

Here's a good piece for an honor band or a band that has some excess percussionists to use. The piece is in three sections and draws from a number of Chinese musical styles. Boisterous war drums and an imposing melodic statement are at the forefront of the Mongol Attack. The mystery of the Aftermath and the beauty of Peacetime gently precede The Empire Victorious, leading to a powerful conclusion. Cross-curricular opportunities here as well, but the piece stands well on its own.

Set $55

Remembering Chuck Berry

The musical world lost a legend last Spring when St. Louis legend Chuck Berry passed away. Right until the end, Chuck Berry was still playing gigs at Blueberry Hill restaurant here in St. Louis. I'm sad to say I never got the chance to hear him perform live. If you have a summer band you're working with, you might want to consider this setting of Chuck Berry Highlights I discovered from a very obscure publisher in Europe. The nice thing about the popular music adaptations I find from there is they tend to be more musically advanced than those produced in US that cater to the school band. It includes Roll Over Beethoven; Rock and Roll Music; Sweet Little Sixteen; and Johnny B. Goode.
We will miss St.Louis' musical icon and his impact on the musical world will be cemented in history forever.

Set: $120

I've got one more newsletter I'll try to send out in a week with new resources and reference books you can peruse over the summer, and a few other notes. Then I'm off to WASBE in The Netherlands in July, so I should have lots to talk about after that.