German Band

[roughrider]

This past November I was asked to join a local German band here in the city. I had never played that style of music before at all. After the band took a two month break, rehearsals started again in February and this coming Saturday we are playing the first "gig" that I have been a part of. What I have learned is that this is a type of music with a very specific style! It has sharpened my playing considerably during the last several months. I am lucky to have a very experienced sousaphone player next to me who has been very helpful as well. One very competent drummer as our leader and about twenty of us in total when everyone is there. After many years of concert bands and smaller groups, the oom-pah band is a very welcome change indeed. A new experience that has been positive! My King bell front tuba has worked really well with this group. In fact, my stand partner has a King sousaphone as well. Two "Kings" in the back row!(lol)

[Three Valves]

I love oom-pah!!

[Lars Trawen]

I love oom-pah!!

So do I!
While still living in Sweden I was the band master of a German band playing at several October fests every year.
Now in Portugal it seems to be no interest in that style of music, unfortunately.
I'm missing it greatly.
However I've not yet made any serious attempt to start any.
There is still time for that.

[Polkahero]

Don't knock it until you try it!

[Dan Schultz]

Do you actually perform with twenty pieces? ... or is that just the size of the group for rehearsal purposes?

Twenty pieces is quite large for what we consider a German band in these parts. The Rhine Valley Brass (house band at Germania Mannerchor in Evansville, Indiana) uses two clarinets, two trumpets, one trombone, one euphonium, one tuba, and a drummer. We've found that it's nearly impossible to get paid gigs for a group any larger.

I think although traditional German folk music is fairly easy to play but it requires a fair amount of rehearsal to develop 'the soul' to make it sound good.

Tonight will be the 2nd night in a row this week and we have 'Volksfest' coming up next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday... five hours each night. This is a club gig and the only rewards are free beer, food, and a damned good time!

[Donn]

Two tubas seemed odd to me, but I'm no expert. I wonder if Germany has more than one type of band music?

[eupher61]

The German bands are full concert bands as often as they are smaller groups.

[roughrider]

After a recount, the actual number in the band is 16. It does seem unusual to have two tubas, however my stand partner is 77 so perhaps he feels I might be his replacement in due time? (lol)

[Polkahero]

My German band is 13-piece and we use two tubas. The parts are usually written in octaves or as separate Tuba 1 and Tuba 2 parts in different octaves.

[Lars Trawen]

My German band is 13-piece and we use two tubas.The parts are usually written in octaves or as separate Tuba 1 and Tuba 2 parts in different octaves.

That is the normal German way to play two tubas. It makes the tuba sound very soft and sonorous.
In that case they use one big BB-kaiser and one big F-tuba that plays the upper octave.
As an example, listen to Ernst Hutter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap4tYAoaeoY
Very impressive.

[arminhachmer]

I love oom-pah!!

So do I!
While still living in Sweden I was the band master of a German band playing at several October fests every year.
Now in Portugal it seems to be no interest in that style of music, unfortunately.
I'm missing it greatly.
However I've not yet made any serious attempt to start any.
There is still time for that.

Lars, start something ! There are lots of German tourist there. I have the most fun with my 8 piece band playing oompah, dixie, oldies.

[ppalan]

I've played in a German Band for around 30 years. We've sort of re-invented ourselves over the years to appeal to changing audiences but still work between 25 and 35 gigs a year. Our preference is to use the full band ( 11 players: 4 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, 2 Euphoniums, 1 Tuba, 1 Drummer. Several members also do vocals) We do a great deal of traditional stuff (in updated arrangements) but also do arrangements of Strauss Waltzes/Polkas/Galopps, Swing, Rock and Roll,and Funk Medleys, Sweet Caroline and many others. Playlists determined by expected audience. Virtually all of our arrangements are done "in House" most often by our lead trumpet player. Nobody's getting rich. We typically play 4 hr gigs and members generally go home with at least $100. Sometimes, because of the venue or the available finances we go with an 8 piece band ( 2 Tpts, 2 Trom, 2 Euphs, Tuba, Drummer) German bands run the gamut from groups like Mnozil Brass https://youtu.be/A06K2qsH8v0 (yeah, I know they're Austrian) and da Blechhauf'n https://youtu.be/ZRphEzSIUXM to town bands like this:
https://youtu.be/yDW4muQwJS4
The Ernst Mosch band https://youtu.be/zT5pHs62oy0 was hugely popular for many years and a great deal of his style was employed by others. Here's a clip of a pretty decent group that's popular these days: Blaskapelle Gloria https://youtu.be/b3s5G8OB6M8?list=PL94985540F679D1A7 and finally here's a very nice Czech group: https://youtu.be/SFzacj70Vdo
I thoroughly enjoy playing this music partly because it is my heritage but also because, with our current arrangements, my tuba parts are often not typical "oom-pah" parts. In fact we have made an effort to be more than the stereotypical Oom-pah Band, play good arrangements of good music in the most musical fashion we can. Here are a couple of samples from our first attempt at making a recording:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ds2dycsz6yzv1 ... a.m4a?dl=0 Strip Polka
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t8cqug6pd9ac1 ... e.m4a?dl=0 Lili Marlene
If possible, listen to all of these clips through headphones
Here's a link to some more clips from our website. http://www.philadelphiagermanbrassband. ... mples.aspx The first 8 or 9 are fairly good live recordings some of the others were made by audience members and are, shall we say, less than studio quality.

Pete

[roughrider]

The gig went quite well today. Our band rode on a flatbed pulled by a pickup truck. We had a large canopy over our heads while we played in the parade. After reaching the fair site, we had a one hour break and then played enough tunes to cover another hour. It was a real small town event complete with rides and food and of course, a slowpitch tournament as well. Our instrumentation was somewhat thin today. Several of our members are attending adult band camp in the US starting today. Our major event is "Folkfest" which is happening in a week and a half. By then, the rest of the crew should be back as well. A good and very hot day today on the Canadian Prairies!

[Dan Schultz]

..... Our major event is "Folkfest" ....

'Volksfest' at Germania Mannerchor in Evansville, Indiana starts this Thursday, July 30th at 5pm with 'tapping the keg' and a few tunes by an Alphorn trio. The Rhine Valley Brass (with ME) will be on stage in the upstairs ballroom from 6pm to Midnight and again on Friday and Saturday. The Cincinnati Schnaps will be in the outdoor beer garden Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Rathskeller Band will be in the rathskeller (where else) the same nights. There are probably 2,000 pigs knuckles in the brine this week and we'll go through many thousands of brats and kraut balls before the festival is over. 'Volksfest' normally attracts upwards of 20,000 visitors over the weekend.

Ein Prosit!

[timothy42b]

Twenty pieces is quite large for what we consider a German band in these parts. The Rhine Valley Brass (house band at Germania Mannerchor in Evansville, Indiana) uses two clarinets, two trumpets, one trombone, one euphonium, one tuba, and a drummer.

That is very similar instrumentation to the one I played in years ago. I think there was one clarinet and one flute, and two fluegelhorns to balance the two trumpets. These gigs were hard on the lone trombone trying to balance.