Re: Re: BAT Brass Quintet Test


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Posted by Rick Denney on April 24, 2003 at 14:12:11:

In Reply to: Re: BAT Brass Quintet Test posted by Mary Ann on April 24, 2003 at 10:04:17:

My first attempt to respond got thrown into the bit bucket somewhere by our moron ISP, so let me try again.

Our trumpet players are pretty good (good sound, not-so-good rhythm and reading), our horn player is excellent, our trombonist is a pro (in jazz settings) and then there's me. I suppose I'm in the middle in terms of skill, though I think I have more quintet experience (and have certainly seen more literature) than the others.

Our horn player uses, I think, a Conn 8D, and I don't hear him cracking notes.

But I don't think I need to hear a bright horn just because trumpets are bright. If that was the objective, we should be a trumpet ensemble. It seems to me that the point of an ensemble of diverse instruments is to be diverse, but within the context of the music. When David O'Hanion was in the Canadian Brass, he would highlight the difference in his sound my imitating the style of the trombone, and it was very effective and entertaining.

To me, blend is more a function of pitch and rhythmic accuracy, just as you describe your quintet post up the list, than it is matching sounds. The tuba has a blanket in evenc compared to the horn, but that is the point. When you play a fugue, you want the different voices to remain distinct--this brings out the structure of the music--just as an organist would do by playing the theme on the great keyboard, the next thematic entrance on the swell keyboard, and still the next on the pedals. Baroque and polyphonic music seems to me about separate voices serving a common purpose, so the style has to match but the sounds do not. But it doesn't really matter which sound is on which voice, it seems to me. On the other hand, something like the Cheetham Scherzo is written with the different instrument timbres in mind, and, well, viva l'difference. The part says "tuba", and I figure Cheetham intended it that way.

But songs like Mood Indigo have still other requirements to keep the melody singing while the other instruments support it.

My response to Chuck has more.

Rick "still impressed by the notion of working back to front" Denney


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