BRASS, MILITARY, SYMPHONIC BAND REFERENCE contributed by: Jonathan West [JW], Matt Johnson [MJ], Neeraj Mathur [NM], Carl Fritsche[CF] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRASS BAND INSTRUMENTATION In Britain, a brass band is quite different from a Military Band. The instrumentation for a Brass Band is roughly as follows Bb Cornet (note *not* trumpet), (usually 3-4 of them plus solo cornet) Eb piccolo cornet (sometimes), Bb Fluegelhorn (pitched the same as a cornet, but with a wider bore and a more mellow tone, uses a cornet mouthpiece) Eb tenor horn (usually 2 of) Euphonium (1 or 2 of) Bb Baritone (I've never been quite sure what is the difference between a Baritone and a Euphonium, both are pitched in Bb and sound a major 9th lower than written Tenor Trombone (usually 2 of) Bass Trombone Eb Bass Tuba (sounds an octave & a major 6th lower than written) Bb Bass Tuba (sounds 2 octaves & a major second lower) Percussion The major bands will often have more players, and parts will be shared. A really good brass band in full flight is quite an exhilarating sound! Interesting to note, that apart from the trombones, the "orchestral" brass instruments are entirely absent from a brass band. No trumpets, no French Horns, and the tubas are different (The orchestral tuba is actually pitched in F, though the parts are written out at concert pitch, unlike the French Horn) Because the transpositions are all different, according to the length of the instrument, it means that players can move from one instrument to another without having to learn a new set of fingerings. Even the Bb Bass part is written out in treble clef. For a WIND BAND/MILITARY BAND, you think much more in terms of an orchestral wind & percussion section, heavily augmented, so you have Piccolo Flutes Clarinets (lots of them, including Eb, probably Eb Alto) Bass Clarinets (possibly also a contrabass clarinet, but not in a marching band) Oboes Bassoons (perhaps a contrabassoon, but again, not for marching) Saxophones of various shapes & sizes (2 alto, one tenor, one baritone, usually one player to a part). Trumpets Tenor & Bass trombones Tubas (possibly also Euphoniums). French Horns British military bands use horns at all time, the horn players don't use mellophones to march with. Mellophones are more or less unheard of this side of the Atlantic. [JW] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRASS BAND LAYOUT The layout of a standard British brass band is as follows Front row left (as seen by the conductor) 2-4 solo cornets, all sharing one part. One of these will be the principal, and take the real solos 2nd row left Soprano Eb cornet Bb fluegelhorn (1 or 2 of them, sharing a single part) 1 Repiano cornet (A standard Bb cornet. The Repiano does the twiddly bits and fills) 1 or 2 2nd cornets sharing a part 1 3rd cornet Front row centre 4 tenor horns (1 solo horn, 1 or 2 1st horns sharing a part, 1 2nd horn) 2nd row centre Eb Bass, Bb Bass, double Eb Bass, double Bb Bass Front row right Solo Euphonium 1st & 2nd Baritone 2nd row right Solo tenor trombone, 1st tenor trombone 2nd tenor trombone Bass Trombone Back row Drummer (standard drum kit) Percussion. (Cymbals, triangle etc) A good place to look for brass band information is www.harrogate.co.uk/harrogate-band/webring.html [JW] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BARITONE vs. EUPHONIUM The difference between a baritone and a euphonium is that the Euph has a wider bore and so produces a bigger sound (a more open sound). [JW] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CORNET vs. TRUMPET The trumpet and cornet are the same length, and therefore both pitched in Bb. The trumpet has a narrow cylindrical bore for much of its length, and only flares out to the bell fairly late in its length. This, combined with a mouthpiece that has a very shallow cup with a pronounced edge where the cup meets the cylindrical part of the mouthpiece, is what gives the trumpet its very hard, bright tone. The cornet in comparison has a bore which is more conical through most of its length and has a mouthpiece with a deeper cup and less of an edge at the bottom of the cup. These together give a sound with is smoother and more mellow. [JW] A trumpet is 2/3 cyllindrical and 1/3 conical. A coronet is 2/3 conical and 1/3 cyllindrical. The more cyllindrical the tubing is in a brass instrument the brighter the sound. [CF] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- WIND BAND SECTIONS You can split (sections) any way you like. With so many wind instruments available, great flexibility is possible. Just think how for instance Britten splits a string orchestra for the "Variations on Theme by Frank Bridge", which is far more complex than the traditional "2 violins-viola-cello-bass" scoring. For a Wind band, I would think something like this would be a seasonable scoring. 4 clarinets, 1 Eb clarinet, 1 Eb alto clarinet, 1 bass clarinet, 1 contrabass clarinet, 1 piccolo, 2-3 flutes, optionally one alto flute, optionally one bass flute 2-4 oboes, pehaps one of them doubling cor anglais 2-4 bassons, one doubling contra 4-6 trumpets (possibly including an Eb piccolo trumpet) 3 trombones, 1 bass trombone 4-6 horns (normally 4) 2-3 tubas (perhaps including one tenor tuba) As much percussion as you can find employment for! Work on the assumption that you will have, in terms of actual players, possibly as many woodwind as you have strings in a symphony orchestra, with the clarinets being as numerous as the violins would be. The brass will be no more than 1-2 players to a part, depending on fiorces actaually available. The entire crew should number 60-80. If you are scoring for military band, cut down the numbers some (maybe to 40), and allow for a greater preponderance of ordinary clarinets, and nothing of the more exotic instruments. [JW] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSPOSITIONS > I understand the Eb/Bb transposition but from or into what octave? Eb soprano cornet, sounds up minor 3rd Bb cornet/fluegelhorn, sounds down major 2nd Eb tenor horn, sounds down major 6th Bb euphonium/baritone, sounds down octave+major 2nd Trombone, (in Bb) sounds down octave+major 2nd Bass Trombone (in Bb), sounds down octave+major 2nd, written in bass clef Eb Bass, sounds down octave+major 6th Bb Bass, sounds down 2 octaves+major 2nd Note that, in brass band music, all parts except bass trombone are written in treble clef. Also note that trombone parts are written transposed in Bb, unlike orchestral trombones which are written at concert pitch. [JW] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPHONIC WIND BAND Below is my view of a /symphonic/ band, in approximate score order. Note that numbers represent 'parts', not players... vast clarinet/flute sections are not uncommon. Parts marked with (*) are sometimes scored, but are generally unessential. 1 piccolo (possibly doubling a flute part) 2-3 flutes 1 alto flute (* very rare) 1-2 oboes 1 cor anglais (*) 1 bassoon 1 Eb soprano clarinet (*) 3 Bb soprano clarinets 1 Eb alto clarinet (*) 1 Bb bass clarinet 1 Bb soprano sax (*) 2 Eb alto sax 1-2 Bb tenor sax 1 Eb baritone sax (more often than not) 3 Bb cornets/trumpets 4 F horns 3 trombones 1 bass trombone (*) 1 baritone / euphonium ("tenor tuba") 1 tuba 1 stringed bass + Percussion MILITARY BAND Scores for military band follow similar guidelines, but are different in places: Piccolo Solo flute Flutes 1-3 Oboe Bassoon Ab sopranino clarinet (*) Eb soprano clarinet Solo clarinet Ripieno clarinet Clarinets 1-3 Eb alto clarinet (sometimes 2!) Bb bass clarinet (sometimes 2!) Eb contrabass clarinet (*) Eb alto sax 1-2 Bb tenor sax 1-2 Eb bari sax (sometimes 2) Bb cornets 1-3 } Bb trumpets 1-3 } sometimes distinct parts, other times not F horns 1-4 Trombones 1-3 Bass trombone Euphonium (sometimes 2) Tuba + Percussion [MJ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MORE ON TUBAS AND TRANSPOSITIONS Most orchestral tuba players I have seen use tubas pitched in Bb, not F. The tuba in F is the same length as a French horn's F side, and the stuff written for tuba too often just can't be played on it. About transposition: most brass instruments written in bass clef are written at concert pitch, even though they are not pitched in C. (The exception is horn: when horn parts go to bass clef, the transposition is inconsistent. Send me a part to figure it out!) That is why you will often see when you buy a concert/military band score parts for baritone in both treble clef (with a transpostion like a bass clarinet) and in bass clef, with no transposition. And, the difference between a baritone and a euphonium, from a baritone playing friend of mine, is that the euphonium has a fourth valve to permit playing between the first two harmonics of the instrument. [NM] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------