"Amazing Grace" for Band (All Garritan)

[composingatnight]

Hello Rodney, I really enjoyed listening to this arrangement. The moving brass lines and brass harmony certainly gives it that brighter, uplifting sound. I know you said you had not added percussion yet, and as a percussionist, I certainly noticed that I would looooove to hear this with some snare drum (concert, field/marching, or both!)

Thanks for sharing this, I look forward to hearing it completed!

Oh, the snares are coming my friend, the snares are coming! I can already hear it in my head.(And so are the bass drum, timpani, chimes, suspended cymbal, gong, tam tam, and crash cymbals, and maybe even tenors and basses if I decide to go ol' marchn' style on it.) I know, I know, you then ask about, "How about xylophone, marimba, vibes, etc." Not quite sure on that as of yet because of the blend.)
~Rod

[composingatnight]

I wanted to share this with everyone so we can see how percussion can add so much to our music. NOW WARNING: these are NOT Garritan sounds. These are just the standard, less than par midi sounds from Finale, but I hope you can still see the point I am trying to bring home. The music is "The Alma Mater for West Stokes High School" in King, NC. I was asked to compose this work to be their school song. The 1st link will be the wind players (brass/ woodwind) only, then the next link will be the entire band including percussion.
Wind only:https://www.box.com/s/b4fb83b76fcb6982acf9
With added Percussion!:https://www.box.com/s/3ced21af94e6272d3285
~Rod

[composingatnight]

I especially liked the transition from the moto perpetuo into the Scottish bagpipe at the first statement of the tune figure. The horns / euphonium adds a reinforcing sense of home as you explore other phrasing. A successful start. I can imagine that some organists might like to get their hands on this...it would make a terrific voluntary or extended intro.

Great, now you just gave me my next project, and I have just the friends to send it to for help. I have some dear friends that live about 3 hours east from me, but every time I visit them I get to compose on their grand pipe organs located in the churches that they work for.

Picture this: you… all alone… in a cathedral, you find the stop "full pipes,” you position your left foot on the lowest c pedal and then the right on a g, and finally… you play the fullest, most massive chord your fingers can stretched to! Awwwww... pure heaven... (And that's just the first measure, LOL.)
~Rod

[composingatnight]

I admit that I'm not much of a 'brass' person, but I love this! Maybe in part it's because I needed to hear something like this to lift my spirits right now, but still... the arrangement and sound...

Thank you for sharing it!

Thank you for your comments, Silh. They meant a lot. I do believe that music should lift our spirits whenever we need that boost in our lives. Music is 100x's better than caffeine ever was. I hope all is well with you, my friend.
~Rod

[composingatnight]

Some of what you have in your reply brings to mind how working with soft synths/samplers/sound on our computers really is different from working in the analog Real World. You said - - And that's it in a nutshell. The relationship between various sound sources just add up differently as we work in the digital realm as compared to what happens in a live performance situation. I think all of us with any amount of experience working in our music programs know of what you speak. Because of that, we can't always get the results we were expecting when we started adding instrument A to instrument B.

And this may be at least part of the reason I found the opening half a bit thick and lumbering. It's very possible what you've scored would sound very different with physical instruments. Bass frequencies accumulate so fast in recordings, and become so competitive for sonic space.

But yes, it's the "Chocolate" I'm hearing, and you described it perfectly, as in the quote I pulled out - It's what was for me the unexpected sound of tight chords in the bass clef. It's something I've avoided doing for so long, I freak when I've accidentally had two low instruments playing a 3rd apart. I do indeed keep most parts below middle C much more spread apart and simpler.

However - you're saying this is what's fashionable in current marching band music - Well, I'm sure it doesn't have quite the same effect with real instruments, as I said.

Randy

Yes would you believe when composing for a live performance such as band, orchestra, marching band, etc. the low brass are always divided into parts. For example a very typical example is 2 trombones, 1 bass trombone, and tuba in an orchestra with their own part. In band it can get even crazier: 2-3 trombone parts, bass trombone, euphonium section, and tuba section with several close chords all in the bass clef! Now in a marching band you can get the same arrangement as a band or for smaller bands I have seen the same way that you would score for a brass ensemble: 2 trumpet parts, 1 horn, 1 trombone/ euphonium "baritone," and 1 tuba. For smaller marching bands, unless the woodwinds are featured or used as a special color, the flutes and clarinets will double the trumpets, the alto saxophones will double the horns, tenor saxophone will be with the trombone/ baritone, and baritone sax can be with the tuba. Now in drum and bugle corps it is even crazier: 3 trumpet parts with 1-3 soloist parts, 2 horn parts, 2-3 baritone parts (cylindrical bore), 2 euphonium parts (conical bore), and sometimes even the tubas "aka contras" divide!
~Rod

[snorlax]

This problem of sonic density is quite complex.

I trust everyone is aware of the range restrictions for different intervals on the low end of the spectrum.
If not, I'll post what I believe to be traditional limits for thirds, fourths fifths, etc. on the low end. As someone who plays in a lot of low brass ensembles and writes for them, I have to be very sensitive to low-range limits.

I am blessed to play often in a euphonium-tuba quartet with two members of the local symphony and a music grad student. It is IN TUNE and sounds huge because pitches are locked in, and the resultant sum and difference tones are complementary.

In school bands, intonation is frequently optional, and the same notes in the low brass can sound like mud because the fundamentals are out of tune and the resultant sum and difference tones make the situation even worse. Same thing for tone--if players have an unsupported tone, that disturbs the complex waveforms that come out of the instruments, and when seven of them congregate in the same sections, the resultant chords, sums, and differences create a mess.

Another problem with low brass is the long wavelengths. We have found that some rooms are EXTREMELY sensitive to our seating arrangements in a low brass ensemble and whose bells are facing or opposed to who else's. Have a listen to some of the tuba-euphonium quartets in the "Snorlax's Performances" area. It's not the group with the symphony guys; it's me and grad students or music teachers.


Having said all that, I heartily applaud Rod's plan to move his COMB euphonium section to the front of the band.

Snor (low and mellow) lax

[Frank D]

I am going to take your advice adding an introduction that builds to where the mp3 starts. It will start with just one instrument; maybe playing “Amazing Grace” or maybe even a version of taps that later is accompanied by sympathetic chords near the end of the phrase. If I start with “AG” what instrument should I feature as the long solo? For obvious reasons, if I decide on taps then a trumpet would be in order. If you get a chance, take a listen to the mp3 now. It sounds a bit warmer and “woodier.”

Hey Rodney,

First, thanks for all your kind words! Second, if I can ever get a recording of Maura's enhanced "Silent Night", I'll be glad to share it with you.

Now, to the business at hand! I think you went in a different direction than what you wrote above, and this is fine and it works and is better than your original posting ... with getting to the familiar melody of AG sooner being the main improvement. Based on the latest posted arrangement, I'll offer a similar comment to my original ones: When the AG melody is first stated @ 0:22, use a solo color for those first 8 bars, then, @ 0:42, have the countermelodies take it through the rest of the strain exactly 'as-is'.

I like your use of the new material; it sounds perfect if you think of it as an intro to the familiar AG. It's medium-large in sound, and that's why I suggested dropping the intensity and density back down to a solo voice, sans your existing counterpoint, for just those first 8 bars @ 0:22. Just an idea. I think it makes the form more dynamic, giving you a place to go with the full-blown orchestrations that follows.

You asked what I would use for a solo statement for AG. I always loved a solo clarinet for AG; its plaintive quality just seems to fit. Of course, I always love it on bag pipes (and this coming from an Italian!), but you already have that covered. What you have now at 0:22 sounds like several unisons stating the melody? Any of those instruments would be fine as well for the solo voice.

Good luck and thanks for sharing the development of your piece!

Frank

[snorlax]

Rod~
Whatever you did, I still like it.
The little intro, outro, interlude thing is a fine unifying device
that sets up and sets off the main tune, also acting as a point
of reference for the listener. Very clever, that!

Other than your version, my favorite AG chart is for brass band,
arranged by William Himes of the Salvation Army. It
starts with a trumpet chorale of the tune in a bagpipey sort of style
and lots of little countermelodies and fills, especially in the euphoniums.

It's on YouTube here with the incredible Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
You'll hear that the first little countermelody is somewhat like your
intro/outro.

While I try to keep an aesthetic distance when I perform, this one always gets me, and there's a version of Nicaea (Holy, Holy, Holy), also arranged by William Himes, that gets me too, no matter how many times we play it, especially the part with the cornet obbligato behind the trombone melody.

William Himes is director of the Chicago Staff Band of the Salvation Army.

Snor

[composingatnight]

Great! I see that Randy, Frank, and Snorlax are here. Please take a listen now to this sample. It starts a lot more mellow and features a clarinet solo. Let me know what you think. https://www.box.com/s/2414e0f5c23a6bbe9493
~Rod

[rbowser-]

Great! I see that Randy, Frank, and Snorlax are here. Please take a listen now to this sample. It starts a lot more mellow and features a clarinet solo. Let me know what you think. https://www.box.com/s/2414e0f5c23a6bbe9493
~Rod

The thread that lives on and on! hehe-- Maybe we should have a "Music Lab" forum where people post works in progress!

Sounds nice, Rod - Are my ears behaving differently today, or all the woods moved up more in the mix now? I could hear them for the first time, and I really liked it.

A low clarinet solo, OK - I guess an octave up wouldn't be right? I was wanting to hear that first rendition of the melody with a higher, clearer voice, flute I guess. But this is in keeping with the big, round and warm sound that you're wanting to emphasize, so it's not as if I think it doesn't work.

Thanks, Rod.

Randy