Band literature

Now, I'm sure that most of you played in a high school band, and whatnot, but I was wondering... what pieces have you played, what are you favorites that stood out, and what are the songs you've played that also come with bragging rights? (like high scores in festivals, difficulty, etc)

For me, my high school was literally the best in state receiving the highest ratings in state for orchestra, jazz, and wind symphony three years in a row. My director was extremely gifted in that he was able to propel us to a level I never thought we could reach.

Now that being said, we were able to play some amazing songs and some very difficult songs very well... here are some of my favorites...

Passacaglia by Ron Nelson... now we didn't actually perform this due to the fact that it is EXTREMELY difficult to play, but it is a song that continues to blow me away every single time I listen to it.

Homage to Macheaut by Ron Nelson... this is a beautiful medieval piece that we performed at our final concert and I recommend everyone to check out this amazing composer's works.

Gvorkna Fanfare by Jack Stamp... this one is just a way cool brass fanfare that's only a minute and a half long. It stills kicks everytime I hear it.

Watchman Tell Us of the Night by Mark Camphouse... absolutely beautiful piece, that I also happened to have a trumpet solo in. Long, but beautiful song.

A Movement for Rosa by Mark Camphouse... a song written about Rosa Parks... very haunting and beautiful and even unnerving at times.

Aspen Jubilee by Ron Nelson... this song is just... wow. It's so awesome. I remember the judge leaning over to me at state festival whispering to me "you guys are really going to play this?!" It was cool to know that we were able to play such amazing songs. It's funny because the next year after we played it, 3 colleges, and I believe about 5 high schools all were going to play it. That's how well we did.

Elegy for a Young American by, well, I forget the name, but I'm sure a lot of you have heard this one, so I won't give a long explanation on this. It's just a beautiful piece that's a blast to play.

Ghost Trains 1, 2, and 3 by Eric Whitacre... very very cool halloweenish pieces by a very very cool composer. Go to bcminternational.com and try to find recordings of these songs... they're awesome.

Bercuse and Finale by Igor Stravinsky... this is such an amazing piece we played in orchestra. I'm sure a lot of you have heard this one... it's from the Firebird Suite. We played this at state festival and nailed it. Very very cool piece to play.

Those are a few that stood out in my mind. Tell us about the ones you guys liked the best.

I have a few favorite pieces that We've played in high school over the three years.

October by Eric Whitacre. It may not be the most difficult but its one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and I had a solo.

Variations and Fugue by Vittorio Giannini ( I think thats how its spelled). Its really really hard to like but after you do its great.

Fiesta Del Pacifico by Roger Nixon. Its one of the most if not the most fun song I ever played.

Southern Harmony by Donald Grantham. Its a great piece.

As for the pieces you mentioned I don't I've ever really heard them or heard of the. We had a pretty good band at my high school also. We also have a great director who's been there for forever and he's very widely known.

Hmm, some favorites...

Symphonic Dances No. 3 "Fiesta" - Cliffton Williams. This piece is very awesome, IMO. The spanish feel, the volume, and the speed were just so fun. It was a very loud, ferocious piece of music. ^^

The Gathering of the Ranks at Hebron - David Holsinger. Another relentless piece. Constanty moving, and has great rhythm throughout, even through the slow sections.

The Nobles of the Mystic Shrine - John Philip Sousa. My favorite march ever, thats all I'm gonna say. ^^

Malaguena, Caravan - Arranged by our director for marching band. We are currently playing those songs (as one piece, our opener). This pieces will take our band to great heights, it is sounding so amazing.

Echano - Another piece arranged by our director for marching season. Its our closer and percussion feature, and is also very amazing. ^^

Mannin Veen - Hayden Wood. Niiice.

Lincolnshire Posy - Percy Aldridge Grainger. Nice and jagged. Also his Marching Song of Democracy or whatever.

Celtic Hymns and Dances - Eric Ewazen. Craaaayzy in that nice folksy way.

favorite Sousa march would have to be King Cotton. steer clear of his non-marches, though.

I didn't even know sousa made anything besides marches. My favorite march of his is Hands Across the Sea.

Not much of a band man, but I do find that I like much of Frank Ticheli's stuff (particularly Blue Shades and Postcard).

Ah, I LOVE Blue Shades! :)

Our band also played a lot of David Holsinger's pieces. Some of my favorites were Grayson Dance and Scootin' on Hardrock.

I played Bb trumpet in middle school and high school band. Below are some of my favorites (although my memory is vague on exact names and composers):

The English March Suites 1 and 2 by Gustav Holst

Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity, also by Gustav Holst

Chorale and Shaker Dance (a combination of Simple Gifts and music of the composer)

Oveture to Candide by Leonard Bernstien

Chanson and Bouree

Florintiner March

Haydn's Hen Symphony

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue

Medly from Miss Saigon

Medly of music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Medly of Big Band Tunes (include American Patrol and April in Paris)

From Jazz Band, I enjoyed:

Perdido

Big Mama Cass

In The Mood

On Broadway

Birdland

Chris, I like a lot of your picks as well. Here's a cople great originals:

Noisy Wheels of Joy

the music program at my high school is very young (began less than 10 years ago) and that's evidenced by less than 100 players (predominantly saxes) and only one french horn (me). last year, the pieces that we pulled off really well were Ride by Samuel R. Hazo and Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli. For marching band this season, we're doing a classical show featuring farandole by bizet, variation xviii by rachmaninov, and finale from new world symphony by dvorak...a power show.

Hi,

These are my favourites:

-Suite from ''der Rosenkavalier'' Richard Strauss/ arr. Jan Cober

-Xenia Sarda, Hardy Mertens

-Symphony 1: ''The Lord Of The Rings'', Johan de Meij

-Firebird Suite (Berceuse & Finale), Stravinsky Igor/Longfield Robert

-Elsa's procession to the Cathedral, Wagner

-3e movement ''For Nathalie'' from Third Symphony, James Barnes

-Variations on a Korean Folk Song, John Barnes Chance

-Canterbury Choral, Jan van der Roost

-To My Country (the trio part of the second movement, entitled 'In the Country', from the Third Symphony, Bernard Zweers (1854 - 1924).

-Loch Ness (poem sym.), Johan de Meij

for example....

The Dutch are good in writing original wind music.....

Every town has his own wind band, 50% of them, are playing without the clarinetfamily, but with the buglefamily (fanfare bands). Our best amateurbands are as good as the professional military bands. On high school are NO bands at all....

It's only the local community who preserves the music....

Greets,

Marcus

This year my favorites were Rondo Jubiloso by John Zdechlik, Sun Dance by Frank Ticheli, and of course Les Preludes by Franz Liszt in my sophomore yr. :) .

Hi,

Every town has his own wind band, 50% of them, are playing without the clarinetfamily, but with the buglefamily (fanfare bands). Our best amateurbands are as good as the professional military bands. On high school are NO bands at all....

It's only the local community who preserves the music....

I totally agree with you. I never really understood the American 'jazz band' tradition, except for the bits and pieces I've seen in high school and teen movies and cartoons (Lisa Simpson!).

Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre is very beautiful. It's a big improvement on the choral version.

A lot of the stuff by a jazz composer who lives in Los Angeles called Gordon Goodwin is amazing, notably Sing Sang Sung and Samba Del Gringo. I also like a lot of Sammy Nestico's arrangements, but particularly the trombone solos. These are what we play in the youth band that I'm in in England, which I guess is the equivalent of a high school band. Everyone should get some Gordon Goodwin stuff though.

Our band is not that amazing, but some of our pieces have been somewhat difficult. My favorite piece we've played was Rondo for Winds and Percussion by Edmonson.

A lot of the stuff by a jazz composer who lives in Los Angeles called Gordon Goodwin is amazing, notably Sing Sang Sung and Samba Del Gringo. I also like a lot of Sammy Nestico's arrangements, but particularly the trombone solos. These are what we play in the youth band that I'm in in England, which I guess is the equivalent of a high school band. Everyone should get some Gordon Goodwin stuff though.

I got to see Gordon in concert! It's all about the Hunting Wabbits (which is insanely fun to play)!!

I briefly played euphonium in the Caltech concert band... highlights for me include:

David Weirich - Martyrs Mirror

Mendelssohn - Overture for Winds

Suppe - Overture to "The Jolly Robbers" (arrangement apparently by the composer himself)

One piece that we didn't play, but I think is among the best in the concert band repertoire, is Rimsky-Korsakov's concerto for trombone and military band.

Lets see, we have such an awesome line up

Ride, Olympiada, Exceltate - Samuel Hazo

Movement for Rosa - Camphouse

Sleep - Whitacre

We are currently working on the musicals: Wicked, Rent, Ms. Saigon(Spl?)

Also, Godzilla eats Las Vegas, very wierd some from Whitacre

And finally Rapsody in Blue from Gershwin will be our next concerts finale. A group of the band is walking around the piano, taking turns at solos - morphing, contorting, and having fun!

In our middle school band, I'd have to say that these would be my favorites...

Digital Prisms by Larry Clark (I love the middle section at bar 42)

Valley Forge March by John Edmonson (Classic kind of march, especially for the low winds)

The Great Locomotive Chase by Robert W. Smith (ASCAP) (Lots of fun!)

At All-West and Overton Honor bands:

Through Courageous Eyes by Brian Balmages (played piano for this one)

In a Gentle Rain by Robert W. Smith (ASCAP) (beautiful, played piano for this one with All-West)

Chanson by John Kinyon (Out of print, wish I could find a recording!!!)

The Ringmaster (Concert March, can't remember the composer)

From Sea to Shining Sea (Gorgeous setting of "America" for band, can't remember composer)

Distant Voices by Elliot Del Borgo (Interesting kind of modern piece)

As far as middle school music goes...

Celtic Ritual

Great Locomotive Chase

Lament and Tribal Dances

Collonial Collage

For college/high school literature...

Incantation and Dance

October

To Tame the Perilous Skies

The Planets

Holst's Suite in F and E flat

For this year, so far I've played as follows:

Wind Symphony:

- Bali - Michael Colgrass

- Commando March - Samuel Barber

- Huntingtower Ballad - Respeghi (sp?)

- Um Mitternacht - Um Mitternacht

- West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein

- Sleep - Eric Whitacre

- Military Marches - Beethoven

- and now we're starting our World Premier of Raag Mala commissioned by Michael Colgrass!

Orchestra:

- Overture to Don Giovanni - Mozart

- Symphony no. 39 - Mozart

- A London Symphony - Hayden

- Vaesperas (sp?) - Mozart

- and now we're working on Borodin's Polovstien Dances: Prince Igor and Stravinsky's the Firebird Suite

I guess the most difficult piece our band has played is Toccata Marziale by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It's really difficult. Another great piece was Holst's Second Sweet, especially "The Blacksmith" movment. The coolest song our jazz band has played is an awesome arrangment of Birdland. It really is thanks to our wonderful director.

The most difficult piece our band has played is Holsinger's piece, Havendance. It has time changes almost every measure, crazily skewed rhythyms and a nasty key signature at the end. He wrote it for his daugher. We think she must have ADHD or something.

Godzilla eats Las Vegas, very wierd some from Whitacre

I sight read that piece (Godzilla eats Las Vegas) with a high school band when I went on vacation

to see a friend. That was the craziest piece I have ever seen! There was tempo changes like every other measure and crazy rythmns and everything! The french horn solo rips were crazy but humorous. I actually didn't get to play through it all. Very difficult piece. I didn't really care for it though.

Some of my favorite band pieces:

The Last to Defend (David Shaffer)

Toccata (?????) - This was a very impressive piece of music...I wish I could remember the composers name.

Sleeping Place of the Stars (Ralph Ford) - Cool piece!!

Any of the John Philip Sousa marches....enjoyed reading those, but unfortunately never played any for a concert.

Lord of the Rings Suite (Howard Shore...arranged by Ralph Ford)

Jazz band:

Birdland (????)

Marching Band:

Russian Christmas Music (Alfred Reed) - Favorite piece of all time!

Slavyonskya (????)