Huge massed band

[imperialbari]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA62X9kHrDo

[Heavy_Metal]

Tubas at 4:48!

The low brass really comes through on "Europe United". Sounds like it would be fun to play. I looked it up, never having heard it before, and this was pretty much all I found:

Composer: Wilhelm Zehle
Written in 1912

Impressive video. Thanks for sharing it.

[Highpitch]

Does anyone know if this is a regular occurrence? I'd love to see this in person, or at least on HD video.

Dennis

[MikeW]

I was in the audience for a massed bands event like this at Wembley stadium, some time in the early eighties (this may be the one); It was quite an event, and there were bands from all over England in the audience. I remember they played Beethoven's battle symphony (meh, what's next?) but the piece that stays with me was Finlandia - try to imagine the big melody, heard from the middle of a choir of twenty thousand, singing sotto-voce - beauty beyond words. Out on the field though, it was just another job - a friend of mine was playing EEb tuba in one of the Army bands, and wasn't aware that anything special had happened.

[arminhachmer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA62X9kHrDo

Thank You Klaus. Good one. Danke.
Another nice one is Alte Kameraden with Andre Rieu and 400 visiting brass players.
Its on youtube.
Armin

[Gilligan]

I paused and counted the rows and columns. 40 across and 28 or so long makes for over 1,100 musicians.

[imperialbari]

The British event is genuine, badly aligned lines and all. The Rieux event is fake like all the German produced mega shows on TV. The music is prerecorded. And then it gives room to one of the great horrors in some German march performances: ritardando.

You may prefer one or another of the tempo traditions, but marches always are about keeping exact time.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

Talking tempo, this one sounded odd to me:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A ... E4itC1&s=1

And counting the beats while watching the clock gave a surprising result.

Klaus