The Holidays come early for musicians

Not many people realize that musicians start preparing for christmas gigs roughly in late July. my quintet was no exception. Being the main arranger of the group, this means I had to get cracking! Since our quintet is doing a little holiday concert thing, and our collection consists of mainly just arrangements made for background music, there was a large task ahead of me. Christmas carols always come off as simple songs when most are quite the contrary. You run into multiple issues when you arrange for a brass quintet. Most chords are only three notes, so you have one voice with melody, but you still have 4 voices to spread those notes, so you have some doubling, which changes the structure of the chord. Take the carol Joy To The World for instance. First chord is the I chord, and you have the melody starting on the root as well. The style of the song also requires the chord to be in root position, so tuba is now on the root of the chord. So you have three voices to duel over the remaining last notes. Assuming, for style reasons, you start with the melody in the 1st trumpet part, you can't have the 2nd trumpet on 5th of the chord. This would result in an open 4th between the same voice. Your best bet is to put the 5th on french horn, in the alto voice, so its displaced by an octave and is in a different timbre. Now you have two instruments to deal with, and only one note in the chord left. You can't give the trombone the 3rd of the chord because then its only a third above the bass, resulting in muddy sound andif you take it up an octave you have a large gap in the voicing and an odd interval between horn and trombone. So you put the third on second trumpet, down an octave, to form a lovely minor 6th, and you put trombone in octave with tuba. Ok, so time for beat two...

I decided we needed a hanukkah song if we're going to perform in a public place like a library. What better option than the Dreidel song. I was concerned though, I was only familiar with the 4 bar section "Dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made you out of clay...". Little did I know there was a fast dance like section before it in D minor (the part I referenced before is in G Major). Now this is where it gets interesting. I frequently use midi's as reference for my arrangements. It helps me visual chord structure, and hear the accompanying rhythm better. Having just a chord progression to go off, doesn't help unless it sa church hymn, because the accompaniment rhythm is just as memorable as the melody, sometimes even more. So anyways, here I am confronted with a section of ethnic music, not familiar with at all. I want a klezmer sound so I always fall back on the open 5th and afterbeat patterns. So i work out the D minor section and come up with a real exciting, clap your hands, "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" thing. Then it hits me...Crap...I need to get from D minor to G major...A Folk tune doesn't normally require a transition like that, it has to happen fast. So I fell back on a modulation technique from theory 3 in college. D is the 5th of G major. The melody ends on D, so I have the melody voice hold the D, while a solo fanfare starting on D mimics the opening, which fanfares on A, which is the 5th of D, so the D fanfare reminds the ear of the opening, and the next tonic you expect to hear is G. So in two bars, I'm able to make a transition to the major 4th of the original key. I was happy. It fit the style and all. Crisis avoided.

The In-depth view

This weekend I have a brass quintet rehearsal, sadly we will be missing our second trumpet, so it will be a quartet for the day. Which just isn't as much fun. I do plan to try out the new flugelhorn though. I want to hear how it blends in a brass section. I have to adjust to its not as aggressive playing style, like cornet. I have been playing on my trumpet for so long, I'm not used to a horn that works best when you back off. For those wondering (none, I know) my roster of horns now is:
B flat Stomvi Elite (their old elite, which is now called the Master), large bore
B flat Ryton (Bach Strad knock off, medium bore)
A/B flat Amati 4 valve piccolo (Czech piece of junk, waste of money, sounds like its plastic and probably is, all I know is that its neither a long bell or short bell picc) I have never performed on this horn, thankfully
B flat Besson 700 Cornet (I love this horn, its so much fun to play, such a velvelt tone and free blowing. Besson only made a few hundred as a prototype to demonstrate at a show, Baltimore Brass got ahold of them, sold them for $400 each. Was a steal)
C Bach Stradivarius, reversed lead pipe, large bore, 29 gold/brass double walled bell. This horn is really great. I'm not in love with it, but I haven't played another bach, or C trumpet in fact, that felt as good as it does to blow on this thing in orchestra.
B Flat JZ Flugelhorn, the recent acquisition
B flat Flugelhorn, unknown brand, but autographed by Maynard Ferguson. It plays like crap, I should turn it into a lamp
B flat Bundy student model, its held together by wire ties. Real classy
Vintage 1960's Besson Euphonium (Made at the London factory)with 4th, noncompensating valvue. Satin silver finish, its gorgeous and in amazing shape, not bad for free...

So Thats the line up. I have recently lent out the Ryton to a coworker who is in high school and is thinking of upgrading. I told him this is an inexpensive way to obtain a professional quality horn and see how it feels, if he thinks its for him. I also offered him lessons. He seems more willing to learn than my current student. He hasn't figure dout you have to have good tone, the correct rhythm and pitch, all at the same time. It is so infuriating that he hasn't gotten any of those skills down to being natural.

I am currently going through an embouchure change. I have realized I curl my lips in when I play, especially when I get tired, which reduced the the vibrating area, killing sound and making me even more tired. I was able to get the adjustment to playing on more of the inside of my lip comfortable enough to use for the orchestra re-audition. I really had a bigger sound with this adjustment. It has resulted in the gap for air to pass through to be a little bigger, which should allow me to get more air out, improving range (I hope). I still ned to do a lot of work on it, but my work schedule isn't cooperating. Even though I am an insomniac, staying up til 2-3 every night, I live in a rowhome, so no practicing normally after 9.

I am wanting to arrange a song for me to use my flugel with the quintet, to get a little bit more unique sound for the group. So it would be a Flugel solo with a quartet accompaniment. It will be time to listen to the radio and the CD collections, and some mp3's for a song to write out. Some more late nights staring at Sibelius lie ahead. I think the quintet book is almost overflowing with my homebrew arrangements.

I still have "Nothin' But a Good Time" blasting in my head. Peace friend(s)