Anyone here play in a large brass ensemble?

[scottw]

Judging by the difficulty of finding appropriate works for symphonic brass ensembles, I can only assume there are not too many of us! This is my main ensemble, one that is both the most challenging and the most rewarding. I am always searching for new music to supplement our 30-some year catalog in the library. My question is this: If there are any other such groups out there who are also having difficulty finding new rep, what about a swap of some pieces? This would work to the mutual advantage for everyone and might be quite interesting. Presently, we are at:
5 trumpet
4 F-horn
5 trombone
2 Euphonium
2 tuba
percussion
We have grown over the years, so much of the library is for smaller ensembles and just doesn't sound very full with all the doubling and tripling of parts, so it is not of much use to us right now. We have some of our members who contribute quality rep, but they can't do it all.
If anyone out there in tubenet has the same trouble, let me know? Maybe we can help each other out.
Scottw

[scottw]

Have you tried arranging pieces? Cause that would open up a lot of choices

As I said in my post, we have 3 arrangers, but they can only turn out a few a year with their time allotment. So, we go looking!

[Steve Marcus]

Dick Wuopio was very helpful with selections from his Solid Brass Music Company when I was reviewing and ordering charts for Chicago Brass Choir and Chicago Brass Band Players.

Arrangements for large brass ensemble by Michael Allen and others are available at Boulder Brass Publications.

I used to order London Brass/PJBE charts from http://www.tapestrymusic.com, but apparently they no longer carry brass sheet music.

[scottw]

Dick Wuopio was very helpful with selections from his Solid Brass Music Company when I was reviewing and ordering charts for Chicago Brass Choir and Chicago Brass Band Players.

Arrangements for large brass ensemble by Michael Allen and others are available at Boulder Brass Publications.

I used to order London Brass/PJBE charts from http://www.tapestrymusic.com, but apparently they no longer carry brass sheet music.

Thanks, Steve. We use some of Mike Allen's nice stuff. The PJBE and Solid Brass are for smaller groups, 10 pc. if I remember correctly.

[Biggs]

Symphony for Brass and Percussion, Alfred Reed

4 trumpets
2 cornets
4 horns
4 trombones
2 euphoniums
2 tubas
handful of drummers

[imperialbari]

If you are willing/able to read clefs and transpose adequately some big band charts should work fine. Lots of styles and levels of difficulty.

Trumpets and trombones just read normal notation.

Horn: 2 on each of the alto sax parts

Euphs: 1 on each of the tenor sax parts

Bass tuba: baritone saxophone part

Contrabass tuba: reading bass part octave down

Add keyboard and guitar, they should be easy to find

If no trap set divide the functions between perc players


With careful selection there should be quite a few relevant pieces to be found from the repertory for brass bands.

Pieces for smaller settings may be spiced up by being played by antiphonal sub-groups around the stage or even around the hall.

Klaus

[Craig Garner]

I am always searching for new music to supplement our 30-some year catalog in the library.

As an arranger, anytime someone says "I'm searching for new music" I'm always interested. So, I have to ask.....what is on your "wish list?" In other words, what do you wish were available for brass ensemble, but you can't find it.

[scottw]

I am always searching for new music to supplement our 30-some year catalog in the library.

As an arranger, anytime someone says "I'm searching for new music" I'm always interested. So, I have to ask.....what is on your "wish list?" In other words, what do you wish were available for brass ensemble, but you can't find it.

Have you published brass ensemble arrangements? I've looked over so many catalogs I forget names! Or, do you take commissions? PM me and maybe we can figure something out.
We did a huge commission 7-8 years ago, getting David Uber to write a piece for our 25th anniversary, Commemoration Overture. It was very expensive!

[Michael Grant]

I have two lists of music that I used to own. They are quite extensive and will give you an indication of the number of pieces that are available to you. They are in excel format and too large to send over the BBS. Send me your e-mail and I can get them to you.

Michael Grant
teamoakwood@gmail.com" target="_blank

[eupher61]

Check out the Summit Brass. Decent group, with a little bit of repertoire.

[scottw]

Thanks for all the replies and PM's about this. Keep 'em coming! There must be a lot more out there, as they all have tubas and most have euphs, right? I would really think it would benefit everyone to share information, resource, and common ground.
Scottw

[46K]

There are tons of midi versions of most popular pieces in any style to be found on the net.
Import these as parts or as a whole arrangement in a score writing program like sibelius or finale, and (sometimes with some changes) you have almost ready made arrangements available.
As long as your band doesn't play for (big) money nobody will care about copyrights.

[scottw]

There are tons of midi versions of most popular pieces in any style to be found on the net.
Import these as parts or as a whole arrangement in a score writing program like sibelius or finale, and (sometimes with some changes) you have almost ready made arrangements available.
As long as your band doesn't play for (big) money nobody will care about copyrights.

Does playing annually for 700 graduating lawyers have anything to do with my reluctance to try something like that? lol For big bucks, no less!

[deputysgttuba]

I play in the Richmond Brass Consort, which has the same approximate instrumentation as your group. We have had success using brass band arrangements for a while now. It sometimes is a PITA dealing with treble clef tuba parts, but the results are worth it. The horn players usually cover the baritone parts so everything is covered. For the two tubas,divisi parts have to be prioritized since there is not two Eb/two BBb tubas.