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Canadian Brass arrangement, its done very well.

Solution = get yourself any one of their many many recordings with Canon on it..... listen and see what ya think I would think that a very advanced HS group could play it with the proper amount of time and prep.

Don't do it.

Listen to me.

There are many other great quintet pieces that have a much better tuba part.

While it does sound great and it is a great study in the canon/round, the basso repetitum ad nauseum is too much to handle.

Get yourself an easy Bach contrapunctus piece or Die Banklesankeleider (w/e the spelling) or some other old stuff out of the Robert King catalog.


If you're good you'll be able to avoid the Taco Bell Canon. If you're real good you can avoid it while playing wedding quintet gigs. I have only played it once or twice. Got it memorized. Can play it in all 12 keys. Can give you a minor key rendition of it in all 12 keys. It is really that easy and banal. The tuba part that is...

JayW wrote:Solution = get yourself any one of their many many recordings with Canon on it..... listen and see what ya think I would think that a very advanced HS group could play it with the proper amount of time and prep.

Just FYI...

Only a handful of the arrangements they record are the same arrangements available in the "Intermediate" or "Advanced" books of "Favorite Canadian Brass Quintets" (or whatever it's actually called)

You can by a lot of the arrangments that they actually play individually though. Many of them are of considerable difficulty and are manuscript rather than engraved like their collection books are. That said, they perform a number of arrangments that you can't buy, so what you may be listening to may or may not be what you can get a hold of.

While I completely AGREE with Matt, i do feel this is that can truly "test" a tuba player ...... from an exercise point of view......

As for the recording Vs. actual music... I am srictly talking about the "seperate" Pachelbels Canon, no the version included in the books... I believe "The Essential Canadian Brass" cd is that exact arrangement, as far as i can tell.. Tom brings up a good point though that i didnt think of. The version on their "Best of "cd is in D, where as the arrangement I am talking about is in C

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Hey Chris,
since you have just started that quintet I´d recommend a non-top notch version of the canon. It´s a great piece for the five of you to musically get to know each other, but depending on the key it definitely will strain high brass. I disagree with some on this thread and would rather say it´s quite demanding for ALL parts, INCLUDING the tuba. The hard thing is to get this baby to really swing, and to musically develop nuances that will add colour to it as it goes on, and on, and on...

Hans

You want this one:

Canadian Brass Book of Favorite Quintets

Intermediate Level, arr. Walter Barnes.

Contents: Canon (Pachelbel); Rondeau (Mouret); Trumpet Voluntary (Clark); Trumpet Tune And Ayre (Purcell); Hallelujah Chorus (Handel); My Heart Ever Faithful (Bach); Contrapunctus I (Bach); Andante From Trumpet Concerto (Haydn); Cor Royal (Nicholai/Cornelius); Sakura & Kimgayo (Japanese); Farandole (Bizet); Toreador Song (Bizet); Hava Nagila (Israeli); Just a Closer Walk (American/Gillis); Amazing Grace (American/Henderson).

There are 8 different notes...repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and...

D-A-B-F#-G-D-G-A repeat until the trumpets stop, but make sure you finish on a D.

Here's the score of the original:
http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/ ... /kanon.pdf
or the link page for the parts:
http://icking-music-archive.org/ByCompo ... elbel.html
You'll have to do some arranging yourself, since the original is 4 parts only. (and the 3rd part in it's original form would be quite a challenge for trombone/french horn )
Some shuffling around of voices to give somebody a few rests and remove the high D's from the 3rd part could be enough.

The CB intermediate book's version is in Bb. IIRC their recording is in C; and possibly the original is in D.
The tuba part while repetetive can still be instructional. You need to be able to hold a very steady tempo, while at the same time listen to all the fluttering that is going on around you so that your beat comes in exactly when it should. Easy but not easy, if you know what I mean.
I think the CB intermediate books are great for high school players.

MA, who played it in a quintet with a tuba player who was only going half as fast at the end as he was at the beginning, and we were unable to fix that. (I was horn in that group.)

Tom wrote:There are 8 different notes...repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and...

Chuck(G) wrote:D-A-B-F#-G-D-G-A repeat until the trumpets stop, but make sure you finish on a D.

Hmmm ... Philip Glass 300 years ahead of time?

MaryAnn wrote:MA, who played it in a quintet with a tuba player who was only going half as fast at the end as he was at the beginning, and we were unable to fix that. (I was horn in that group.)

Hate it when that happens! "If you're gonna do it, don't do a half-fast job", right?

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:Well, about the Canadian Brass books, I went to a local music store, and they had the advanced level, which I obviously looked at. I acctually prefer the advanced over the intermidiate, because we have some very good players, and they were requesting challeging peices, such as 4's and 5's. Dont get me wrong, I think the intermidiate level is good, but it is just not as challenging as say, the advanced level. When I looked at the advanced level, it seemed to be at just the right difficulty level I have been looking for, and its the same level that all the players can play at too. I just would choose the advanced book, because we are at a higher level of playing, then the intermidiate book. As far as Canon goes, I forgot to specify, but I would like it Canon in D. I thank corbasse for showing me the score, and parts for the string instrumentation. I will keep searching however for a version, that can both be played by us, and keep the same level of sound quality maintained by the original. Thank you.

-tubachris

There are two versions for BQ on SibeliusMusic.com; use the "advanced search", select "brass quintet or quartet" for instrumentation and "Canon" as a search term. One of the versions is very lame, the other is fairly true tot he wire choir version.

FWIW

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:Well, about the Canadian Brass books...I acctually prefer the advanced over the intermidiate, because we have some very good players, and they were requesting challeging peices, such as 4's and 5's.

I think the intermidiate level is good, but it is just not as challenging as say, the advanced level. I just would choose the advanced book, because we are at a higher level of playing, then the intermidiate book.

As far as Canon goes, I forgot to specify, but I would like it Canon in D.

I will keep searching however for a version, that can both be played by us, and keep the same level of sound quality maintained by the original. Thank you.

Ok...here's the deal:

The Canon on the various Canadian Brass recordings is not the one in the intermediate book. The arrangement that they perform is very difficult. Here's the deal with their arrangements:

"This is music played, recorded, and/or highly recommended by The Canadian Brass. We are currently adding a ranking; if the number is not yet given, you should consider the music to be highest level.
Several titles are not available in a printed (engraved) version, but we offer copies from our private library (order number starting with CB0.)"

Believe me...the Canon in the intermediate book is not junk. People will recognize the tune and you'll be praised almost endlessly for playing it. Nobody will really know or care what key it's in...I don't even think you'd be able to really tell a difference between the different keys.

Don't overlook the "intermediate" books just because you don't think the music is hard enough. I'd rather hear a kick a** performance of stuff out of the "intermediate" book than a hacked through performance of the "advanced" stuff.

For the "essence of the original playable by us" I don't think you can go wrong with the intermediate book. In fact it has some really nice, playable arrangements of a lot of standards. I would start there.

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:

Tom wrote:

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:Well, about the Canadian Brass books...I acctually prefer the advanced over the intermidiate, because we have some very good players, and they were requesting challeging peices, such as 4's and 5's.

I think the intermidiate level is good, but it is just not as challenging as say, the advanced level. I just would choose the advanced book, because we are at a higher level of playing, then the intermidiate book.

As far as Canon goes, I forgot to specify, but I would like it Canon in D.

I will keep searching however for a version, that can both be played by us, and keep the same level of sound quality maintained by the original. Thank you.

Ok...here's the deal:

The Canon on the various Canadian Brass recordings is not the one in the intermediate book. The arrangement that they perform is very difficult. Here's the deal with their arrangements:

"This is music played, recorded, and/or highly recommended by The Canadian Brass. We are currently adding a ranking; if the number is not yet given, you should consider the music to be highest level.
Several titles are not available in a printed (engraved) version, but we offer copies from our private library (order number starting with CB0.)"

Believe me...the Canon in the intermediate book is not junk. People will recognize the tune and you'll be praised almost endlessly for playing it. Nobody will really know or care what key it's in...I don't even think you'd be able to really tell a difference between the different keys.

Don't overlook the "intermediate" books just because you don't think the music is hard enough. I'd rather hear a kick a** performance of stuff out of the "intermediate" book than a hacked through performance of the "advanced" stuff.

For the "essence of the original playable by us" I don't think you can go wrong with the intermediate book. In fact it has some really nice, playable arrangements of a lot of standards. I would start there.

Don't get me wrong, I dont think that the selection in the intermidate book is "bad," its just the players in the group wanted to play at a higher level. And I can assure you, that the peices wont be "hacked" through, and I'll make sure of it too. Please dont take me the wrong way. I agree with you though Tom, but they told me they wil ONLY play music at their level.

-tubachris

Ok I think that there is a misconception especially among High school students that a piece is only difficult if it is in the key of F# ( some equally difficult key) and has a million notes per measure. And to me it sounds like some of the kids in your group may feel that way. There is more to the difficulty of a piece than how many notes or what key it is in. Especially in a peice like Pachabell's cannon the difficulty is in balancing teh parts and keeping together seemlessly--There also is of course the difficult upper parts but notes can be learned and good players will learn them. I would suggest, especially since you have just formed the group, you maybe obtain the intermediate version and read through it with your group and if it is obviously too easy and will provide no challenge then go ahead and return it and get the advanced version. On the other hand with a new group there are many other things you are working on such as communication and staying together w/o a conducter etc. a slightly easier peice may give you the freedom form notes etc. to concentrate on these so that your group goes from "pretty good" to kick a**.

Amy

Ok I think that there is a misconception especially among High school students that a piece is only difficult if it is in the key of F# ( some equally difficult key) and has a million notes per measure. And to me it sounds like some of the kids in your group may feel that way. There is more to the difficulty of a piece than how many notes or what key it is in. Especially in a peice like Pachabell's cannon the difficulty is in balancing teh parts and keeping together seemlessly--There also is of course the difficult upper parts but notes can be learned and good players will learn them. I would suggest, especially since you have just formed the group, you maybe obtain the intermediate version and read through it with your group and if it is obviously too easy and will provide no challenge then go ahead and return it and get the advanced version. On the other hand with a new group there are many other things you are working on such as communication and staying together w/o a conducter etc. a slightly easier peice may give you the freedom form notes etc. to concentrate on these so that your group goes from "pretty good" to kick a**.

Amy

I have to strongly agree with Amy. I think her point is extremely valid and well put. As well as the point that you will be praised for playing this piece as well as can gain a Tremendous amount of music out of it, if you do it the right way.

I third that. Whoa, slow down here. You're goal is to achieve tight and clean musicianship, not just to spit out notes at 160 bpm in cut time. Remember, just playing the notes on the page w/out building the sound and timbre isn't making music, that is just polishing technique. No offense to your other members, but as high schoolers, the most important thing is to learn how to play together well as an ensemble. Just jumping to 30 second notes in F# wouldn't be the way I would recommend (having personally gone that route in my hs brass ensemble). I wish I had listened to my peers who were giving me the same advice Tubenetters are giving you right now.

Work on sounding amazing first. Then plug in the 3 octave jumps and other stuff. And above all else, be humble and don't let anyone think they have arrived and they are above 'intermediate' literature because they are the divine gift to brass ensembles. That's silly. Get the best arrangements for the music's sake, not just the first things that says Grade 5. Start small, then work up IMO. Building an ensemble is work. It's not as simple as just throwing some folks together. It takes a lot of brass ensembles years to acheive really high quality. Get your sound down first.

This post isn't meant to be condesending whatsoever, I would just encourage you guys to get the big picture in perspective a little more.

Ryan