Copland Excerpt - Fanfare for the Common Man

[Houston Haynes]

Hello folks,

I thought I\'d post a quick teaser for one of the Garritan Personal Orchestra demos that will be playing at the NAMM show. Due to license restrictions, I cannot play the entire work here. However, I can excerpt a small segment to whet your appetite. If you\'re going to be at the NAMM show, come by booth 6921 in Hall A to hear Aaron Copland\'s \"Fanfare for the Common Man\" in all it\'s glory.

For those of you that can\'t wait, or won\'t be able to attend, you can go HERE (\"http://www.screenblast.com/H3music/Copland_Excerpt\") and listen to a small segment of the piece. Click on the text/disclaimer to trigger the audio. images/icons/wink.gif

[RickD]

I got a blank page?

Rick

[Houston Haynes]

Do you have Flash disabled on your machine? It\'s a Screenblast presentation, which uses Flash to present multimedia content.

[Jeff Turner]

Excellent!

I wish I could be at NAMM to hear the entire piece. My personal preference would be to bring the trumpets up a bit in the mix. But then, I\'m a trumpet player and you play the trombone.

JT

[Jamie Haggerty]

I can see the flash presentation and the cassette is spinning but I get no audio.
J

[Houston Haynes]

Originally posted by Jamie Haggerty:
I can see the flash presentation and the cassette is spinning but I get no audio.
J <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Click on the text of the disclaimer to start off the audio - it implies that you didn\'t miss the text when checking out the excerpt. images/icons/wink.gif

[PatS]

Very nice! However, I\'m used to the timpani having a lot more presence. Can you get it to play \"bam-bam\" (or something to that effect) instead of \"thud-thud\"? It sounds too distant and oddly muted.

So, which GPO instruments did you use? It sounds like you\'ve got the overlay instruments in there. How many ENS (Ensemble Maker) instruments did you use?

Again, very nice! I\'m looking forward to hearing the full version tomorrow.

Pat

[mschiff]

Houston,

That sounds awesome. Wish I could be there to hear the whole thing.

-- Martin

[Houston Haynes]

Originally posted by PatS:
Very nice! However, I\'m used to the timpani having a lot more presence. Can you get it to play \"bam-bam\" (or something to that effect) instead of \"thud-thud\"? It sounds too distant and oddly muted.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I think that\'s because the score calls for the bass drum there. Plus, it matches the reference performance I listened to in order to get the balance. I\'ll check the score. With you asking for less thud (more high end) and someone else asking for more trumpets, there could be an escalation in the high end that will not end well. images/icons/wink.gif

So, which GPO instruments did you use? It sounds like you\'ve got the overlay instruments in there. How many ENS (Ensemble Maker) instruments did you use?

Again, very nice! I\'m looking forward to hearing the full version tomorrow.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I used the overlays on all first parts, and ensemble instruments on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th parts (where applicable). I pulled down the overlays a bit to preserve the balance but maintain the \"power\".

[PatS]

Don\'t forget to eat dinner.

BTW, does anyone eat lunch at NAMM? Two years ago, I spent an entire Saturday there, and not once did I think about eating. I spent the first hour walking around with, no doubt, a stupid grin on my face. I\'m so looking forward to that experience again.

See you tomorrow.

Pat

[nexus]

GREAT JOB!!

I wish I could be there at NAMM to see peoples faces when they play this! I think it\'s gonna show people you don\'t always need thousands to get the job done.

As far as the critical remarks about percussion etc, I want to commend you on a very tasteful performance.

As you may know, recordings of this work made in the early seventies especially, were purposely very \'showy\' because audiopliles and stereo shops wanted \'demo pieces\' for the HI-FI boom (pun) happening then.

I have two recordings by Bernstein. One was made in 1971 and the other much later. The first one has the hi-fi demo album effect, but later he did a performance that was much more realistic and understated and sounds a good deal like your recording (amazing!).

Well, now all that remains is for me is write something (hah!) that can do justice to GPO\'s brass!

[Houston Haynes]

Thanks - yup - the notes are there in the score and I can hear the timpani on second listen (and made sure the typs weren\'t muted by accident). The bass drum is what really kicks in the door, IMHO.

I\'ve tweaked the mix a few different ways and will let Gary pick the best mix tomorrow morning. Thanks to everyone for their comments and encouragement.

Houston

[PatS]

Check this out--Copland\'s fair copy:

http://memory.loc.gov/cocoon/patriotism/loc.natlib.ihas.200000006/loc.natlib.ihas.100010473?profile=manuscriptScore&behavior=default (\"http://memory.loc.gov/cocoon/patriotism/loc.natlib.ihas.200000006/loc.natlib.ihas.100010473?profile=manuscriptScore&behavior=default\")

All my years as a student and a teacher, and I never came across this one.

Thanks, nexus, for pointing out the differences in interpretation. Copland clearly calls, at least in the manuscript, for the bass drum to have a \"deadened sound.\" Based on my \'68 recording, the LSO apparently ignored that instruction (unless what I\'m hearing is the timpanist beating the snot out of his drums).

Pat

[Houston Haynes]

How interesting! I am looking at a Boosey and Hawkes score and they don\'t have the comment on the \"deadened sound\" like in the original score. That\'s why I let it ring out - as it has always been played when I performed it.

[PatS]

Originally posted by Houston Haynes:
</font><blockquote><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><hr /><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Originally posted by PatS:
Very nice! However, I\'m used to the timpani having a lot more presence. Can you get it to play \"bam-bam\" (or something to that effect) instead of \"thud-thud\"? It sounds too distant and oddly muted.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I think that\'s because the score calls for the bass drum there. Plus, it matches the reference performance I listened to in order to get the balance. I\'ll check the score.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Hmmm! In the old 1968 LSO recording that I have at work, the timp is rhythmically doubling the bass drum, which sounds huge, particularly in the opening. I guess I\'ll have to check the score as well; I haven\'t looked at in 5 years, so my memory of it is weak. Regardless, if it is just the bass drum, I\'d prefer it with more \"ummph.\" Of course, others may prefer it just as it is, so don\'t take my request seriously.

Pat

[Houston Haynes]

Yup - in the opener, the tymps are pronounced. I wish I had brought the MIDI file and score to work - but I guess it can wait until the dinner hour. images/icons/wink.gif

[nexus]

Now that this piece has been done, it would be great if some intrepid GPO user (maybe with a lot of time on his hands!) would tackle another \'warhorse\' of the audiophile crowd like \"MARS\" from The Planets, or \"Also Sprach Zarathustra\", pieces that have been grossly overplayed by symphonies for years.

Wagnerian works are a good test of GPO too, and after this terrific Copland, I\'ve changed my opinion of GPO\'s abilities.

Anybody care to tackle any of these? (I would try, but until I get a much more capable PC I\'m out of luck).

[Houston Haynes]

Just back from demoing at the Garritan booth at NAMM.

I\'m next going to the mammoth tone poem \"Pines of Rome\" by Resphigi... images/icons/wink.gif

[Boneweasel]

Originally posted by Houston Haynes:
I\'m next going to the mammoth tone poem \"Pines of Rome\" by Resphigi... images/icons/wink.gif <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">[drooling] coooool..............


PS. that Copland excerpt blew me away.

[nexus]

\"Pines of Rome\", ahh now that\'s one that I was going to mention! You did such an excellent job with the Copland I would look forward to anything else you may be working on.

Btw, we were discussing reverbs on another thread. Which one did you use for the reverb on \"Fanfare\"? Sounded good...

P.S.: a midi file of the Copland excerpt might be educational for many of the GPO users here on this forum.

[Jordo]

Excellent work! Loved the excerpt. Can\'t wait for \"Pines of Rome\".....

[JSB]

Houston,
I was wondering if you could post your Barber and Copland demos to the GPO demo site. When I try to access your \"high-tech\" demo page, all I can get are isolated fragments of the music. What little I can hear sounds great, and I\'m wondering if there might be others out there who have had some problems hearing the demos, most likely due to using underpowered computer equipment--to which I plead guilty!
Thanks.

[Bob De Celle]

I\'m not sure I get all of the excpert. Does the excerpt end with a diminuendo of the trumpets? This, after all tuba/timpani, and I think what I get, ends with a soft timpani. It\'s a great sound.How did you do it.

[snorlax]

Hi, all...
Not being a keyboard player, I would welcome seeing some MIDI files--that way it would be possible to learn to get the most out of GPO in the MIDI setting where so much of this wonderful work is created. Being a brass player with no keyboard skills, I have to start in Finale, move to Cakewalk, humanize, then add the important controllers, etc. My setup is quite basic, and perhaps limited compared to others. I am coming CLOSE to what I hear on some of the demos, but I\'m certainly missing a subtle thing or 56 in the MIDI programming that will bring me even closer to some of the amazing stuff here. Buying GPO has truly been a learning experience for me

Somebody mentioned the Planets--Mars. As a euphonium player, this piece has enhanced my \"gadget budget\" immensely, (30-40 performances I can recall)and I\'d love to hear a real pro put this on GPO. BUT: The one, only, single, obvious, egregious shortcoming of GPO is the absence of a true euphonium sample. I hereby volunteer to go to Washington or California and be recorded if the company will put me up for a week or two.

I might also add that I have found the members of this community to be most generous in sharing their work & knowledge--while I might have eventually discovered a lot of stuff on my own, the members here have sure made the learning time shorter! Much appreciated here.

Lurking and learning...Jim W.

[Houston Haynes]

DUDE! I was at one time a proud professional player of a Willson four-valve fully compensating euphonium! Then I sold it, bought a Bach 42B trombone, a gig bag, an Oberheim Matrix 6 and Yamaha TX81Z and never looked back. images/icons/grin.gif

I loved having that every-once-in-a-while chance to play in an orchestra as a euphonium player, but trombone was a much steadier gig...

Anyway, I agree completely - I listed euphonium right out of the box when talking to Gary, just behind krumhorn, and recorder for period pieces. (I also mentioned the desire to push the bass trombone a bit higher in register, as I could stay up with the tenors without a sweat - but that was just me.)

So, two votes for euphonium - when do we reach a quarum? images/icons/grin.gif

[snorlax]

DUDE! I was at one time a proud professional player of a Willson four-valve fully compensating euphonium! Then I sold it, bought a Back 42B trombone, a gig bag, an Oberheim Matrix 6 and Yamaha TX81Z and never looked back.

>So that\'s why you\'re so talented--you played euphonium...that explains it all!! I had a Willson 2900 but now use a Besson Sovereign!

I loved having that every-once-in-a-while chance to play in an orchestra as a euphonium player, but trombone was a much steadier gig...

>Wellll, let\'s just say that I haven\'t ever quit my day job...I can squawk out a few choruses on trombone, but it would empty a club instantly.


So, two votes for euphonium - when do we reach a quarum? images/icons/grin.gif

>Two euph players is, by definition, an irrefutable quorum.

>Incredible job on the Copland, BTW!!!

Jim Williams, optimist*

*euphonium player with a beeper

[Houston Haynes]

Originally posted by snorlax:
Jim Williams, optimist*

*euphonium player with a beeper <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">LOL! but the Sovereign is no joke...

Thanks for the kind words - they\'re spare in these parts. images/icons/grin.gif

[Crackbaby]

People should here this too:
http://www.screenblast.com/H3music/GPO_Barber (\"http://www.screenblast.com/H3music/GPO_Barber\")

Any ibizaclubbers loves this track

Isnt taken from a movie or something? I think green and then orange and then nothing. Huh?