Historic Brass

The American composer  Fisher Tull  (1934–1994) was also an arranger, teacher, and trumpet player.  Upon graduating from high school in Waco, Texas, Tull   played for  a  while  in a dance band  prior to enrolling at the University of North Texas and earning  a bachelor’s degree in  M usic  E ducation .  He  stayed at  the University of North Texas  to pursue additional studies and earned a master’s degree in Music Theory and Trumpet Performance. At the tender age of twenty-three, Tull began teaching at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas in 1957. He would later earn a PhD in Music Composition (also at the University of North Texas) and serve as chair of the music department at Sam Houston State University from 1965 until 1982. Fisher Tull's Liturgical Symphony   is one of his most performed works and one of his most well-known pieces for brass.   It was composed in 1960,  the difficulty level is approximately grade five  and it is roughly thirteen minutes long. T

The Liberty Band of Iowa  is a historic brass group quite near the University of Iowa - they are based out of Marion, Iowa. If you search for "Liberty Band of Iowa" (with the quotes) on YouTube you will actually find zero videos of anything . Despite this, they are certainly keeping some amazing history alive. Watch 13 different videos here . A few fast facts: Their oldest instrument is a B-flat cornet dating from 1852. They have about fifty pieces of music from the Civil War era in their book. Their typical season is from March to November and they have a rehearsal or two prior to each performance. Rehearsals have been Fridays at 6:30 PM at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Send an e-mail if you want to join or book the band: LibertyBandIowa@mediacombb.net They write: Musicians play instruments made 130 to 160 years ago. Instrumentation is: 3 Eb soprano cornets, 2 Bb soprano cornets, 2 Eb alto horns, 1 Eb solo alto horn, 2 Bb tenor horns, 1 Eb helicon, 1 Bb/Eb

As an undergraduate, I was part of a trombone-centric jazz ensemble called "8th Position" (the trombone only has seven positions). We were inspired by and loosely based on the New Orleans group Bonerama . Our leader/founder transcribed some of their music for our use. While we only played once each year at our college's Jazz Fest, and only one song at that, Bonerama was already a wildly popular group with broad appeal. They play originals, covers and keep things exciting with the addition of electronics/pedals to the trombone . They have recorded 11 albums. Here they are on The Late Show with Dave Letterman and playing the Star Spangled Banner at the 2008 Sugar Bowl. Bonerama Their website says: Bonerama has always been hailed as “unlike anything you’ve ever heard before”.  It’s the best way to describe this 20 year old powerhouse touring band from New Orleans, LA. In addition to changing the way people think about the trombone, the sound of Bonerama has beco

I decided to revisit  Einojuhani Rautavaara 's catalogue for yet another brass-oriented piece: Annunciations . He had so many intriguing pieces to listen to and all were new discoveries to me so I thought it valuable to dig a little deeper into his compositions.  Annunciations  was composed in 1977 and is a very challenging work for brass quintet, organ and wind ensemble. The two trumpet parts in the brass quintet are to be played on C trumpets. It was a commission by the Stockholm Organ Festival.  Annunciations  lasts roughly half an hour. I found some well-written commentary at windrep.org  (see below) The introduction is slow and exploratory, like the creation of the world. In a way it lays out various symmetrical structures which invite further development. Fast passages in the organ trigger off a “domino” form in which various sections follow one another in succession, laid end to end as it were. A dense “forest of birds” is followed by a cantabile canon, which in turn

This post is about a contemporary piece:  Fantasy and Double Fugue  for trombone choir by  Eric Ewazen .  Eric Ewazen Fantasy and Double Fugue was composed for an octet of six tenor trombones and two bass trombones in one single choir. It was premiered twenty years ago at the 1998 ITF in Boulder, Colorado by the Juilliard Trombone Ensemble, Joseph Alessi, conductor. It was also specifically composed for that group - the score actually lists the title/dedication as  Fantasy and Double Fugue (for the Julliard Trombone Choir).  It utilizes tenor clef for the highest two parts but the remaining six parts are written in bass clef. It is approximately 4:45 long. Warwick Music  states that  "it is very much a 'crowd pleaser'". Eric Ewazen (b. 1954) is well-known as a composer for wind band as well as brass solos and brass ensembles. Ewazen holds a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music and M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from the Julliard School. According to his list of wor

The next featured group on this blog is  Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band . I can not find much about their whereabouts but it appears they are based out of Florida. Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band is a professional period-instrument ensemble that plays American wind band music from the late 19th century. They have one CD available through Amazon  and the linear notes include this information: Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band was founded in 2002 by Michael O'Connor to explore the largely forgotten repertoire of wind band music composed between the end of the Civil War and the advent of the Sousa Band in 1892. This was a formative era for the instrumentation and the music of the American wind band, and the music played by these bands was one of the primary entertainment options available to most Americans.  The Newberry Band plays only music published during this time on instruments from the era with original period mouthp

This post is a departure from the historic focus of the blog and a chance to shed light on a work by the Finnish composer  Einojuhani Rautavaara . Here is a Spotify playlist I found online of a sampling of Rautavaara's music. Rautavaara in the 1950's This brass work is entitled A Requiem in Our Time and was the recipient of the Thor Johnson Brass Composition Award's First Prize in 1954.  This four-movement liturgical work for brass and percussion can be heard  here .  The instrumentation is as follows: B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV F Horn I-II-III-IV Trombone I-II-III Euphonium Tuba Timpani Bell (not glockenspiel) Cymbals Glockenspiel Snare Drum Xylophone Rautavaara passed away on July 27, 2016. An obituary can be found here . Rautavaara in 2003

This post is about an ensemble based out of Mt. Vernon, Illinois - the  Independent Silver Band  (ISB). This is a recreation of a town band from 1884-1889 in Mt. Vernon. This group, which originally began as ten men but later grew in size, played for all manner of local events. The quasi-professional nature resulted in the group eventually folding and being all but lost to the sands of time. The modern Independent Silver Band The ISB lay dormant for 115 years until 2004 when a local music educator, William L. Reynolds, revived the band with other like-minded individuals from Southern Illinois. They play on a variety of period instruments  many of which are tuned to A=445. Their repertoire  is primarily period music but their website says they also have some swing numbers in their book if the situation calls for them. Curiously, the modern ISB also doubles as a separate Civil War re-enactment band: the 48th Illinois Volunteers which were nicknamed "Pharaoh's Army"