TIM REYNISH WEBSITE

SEPTEMBER 2006

Dear Colleagues,

Just over twenty five years on from the first International Conference, and the founding of WASBE and BASBWE, it is quite amazing to reflect on the enormous changes to the culture of wind band music, due in part to the efforts of both organisations, but probably more to the development of technology in publishing music through Sibelius and Finale, and compact discs. The ease with which we can disseminate music world wide is encouraging for the future, if used wisely. This newsletter will serve as an introduction to Ireland.

The Conference in July 2007 looks set to be one of the best ever.

NEW:

011006: Music at Kneller Hall

021006: Japanese Wind Band Music

WASBE CONFERENCE IN KILLARNEY

The developing Killarney website will give you up-to-date information on registration, the fringe to which you can take your group, the International Youth Wind Orchestra and the international golf spectacular which should blot out memories of the Ryder Cup.

Joining the WASBE 2007 Mailling list will mean that you will receive news on all conference matters and you will have an opportunity to have your say. You can join by sending an empty email to WASBE Mailing List.

IRISH WIND BAND MUSIC

Uploaded recently is an article by Rob O’Brien on the wind band scene in contemporary Ireland.

SEVEN YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN

In UK, we in BASBWE are working on a seven year plan to bring to the public, media and music profession a wider knowledge and appreciation of the current wind repertoire.

MUSIC AT KNELLER HALL

In 2007 we shall celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall.

WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF MUSICIANS

2009 sees the centenary of the first composition competition sponsored by the Worshipful Company. This was won by Percy Fletcher with his Back to the Land. It is thought that Gustav Holst may have entered the Suite no 1 in Eb, but no record has been preserved of this or any other entry. However, it is planned to hold a competition to celebrate this centenary, and more news will be forthcoming in October.

REPERTOIRE

This summer there were major concerts in London at St John’s Smith Square by two of our leading wind orchestras. The programmes were sprinkled liberally with arrangements and transcriptions, as was the programme of the CBDNA Honours Band in New York last February, made up of the premiere of a concerto for jazz trio and band, sandwiched between Bach and Shostakovich. Great though the experience of playing Bach and Shostakovich must be, are we really saying that there is no decent original music for our students to tackle? In my book, honours band students at whatever level need to play challenging original repertoire which they probably could not or would not tackle with their own group at home, and they and our audiences need to be introduced to the best contemporary repertoire, not the cutting edge avant garde stuff, but good concert fare.

NATIONAL YOUTH WIND ENSEMBLE

Phillip Scott has a reputation for programming really good original literature. His programme this summer included Kenneth Hesketh’s latest work, a swirling energetic evocation of Serbian dance music, a world premiere by the young composer/conductor Jacques Cohen and two works by Michael Ball, the Saxophone Concerto with its memories of Bartok and Walton, and his Omaggio, which I commissioned for the 1987 WASBE Conference but which was declared to be too difficult by the US military band due to play it.

National Youth Wind Ensemble

IRISH YOUTH WIND ENSEMBLE

The Irish Youth Wind Ensemble has always been one of the most adventurous of all honours bands, and their programme for the course in Cork was more than usually challenging as they limbered up for next year’s WASBE Conference.

After due homage to the Shostakovich centenary, they continued with the new Hesketh and then bravely tackled Macmillan’s Sowetan Spring. MacMillan wrote his piece for the wind section of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and John Paynter, and it is really exciting and tough, really needing a professional band to bring it off totally successfully. 2007 sees the centenary of the great Anglo-Irish composer Elizabeth Maconchy, and her sole work for wind and brass again needs the best possible group to play it with assurance. The second half was completed by another WASBE commission, Samurai with its echoes of the energy of Rite of Spring, and Adam Gorb’s Dances from Crete which is the best kind of light music virtuosic, emotional and amusing. The John Barnes Chance was a welcome relief technically and probably emotionally for the players, but seemed oddly old-fashioned in this context.

In the homepage for August, I quoted a number of colleagues from round the world who had been exploring more challenging repertoire

NO ONE OF THE STUDENTS MISSED A FILM-SCORE OR A POP-SONG

……wrote a colleague in Switzerland who was experimenting with repertoire by Adam Gorb and his former student, Fergal Carroll, with their quirky phrase lengths and uneven metrical organisation.

Clearly we need to play “pops” music in a “pops” concert, but I feel that one of our biggest problems is that our programmes often turn out to be a gallimaufry of styles, with pops music introduced to sweeten what we fondly imagine to be the pill of the tougher works. Let's not patronise our players, nor our audiences.

Have a great Autumn or Spring