Scoring and Arranging for Brass Band, Andrew Duncan

Scoring and Arranging for Brass Band, Andrew Duncan

A Comprehensive and very good advice on this topic for those musicians who are tempted to become creative and write or arrange their own works.

Andrew Duncan, a successfull, experienced and respected composer/ arranger, conductor and professional player, offers a section by section tour of the standard British Brass Band instrumentation and how to score for it.

Current 2007 Revised Edition.

Contents :

Chapter 1 A Brief History of the Brass Band
Chapter 2 The Basses
Chapter 3 The Euphoniums
Chapter 4 The Trombones
Chapter 5 The Baritones
Chapter 6 The Tenor Horns
Chapter 7 The Flugel Horn
Chapter 8 The Comets
Chapter 9 The Percussion and Timpani
The Standard Brass Band Score Explained
Chapter 10 Arranging a Hymn Tune for Brass Band
Chapter 11 Arranging Orchestral Music for Brass Band
Chapter 12 Publishing and Copyright Information

Introduction to the book :
Welcome to Scoring & Arranging for Brass Band.
Since the 1970s there has been a worldwide explosion in the popularity of the British-style brass band. This has transformed what was once viewed by some as a parochial British working class institution into an internationally recognised brass ensemble.

As well as in the UK there are now British-style brass bands established in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the USA, as well as in other countries.
The modern brass band has an immense and ever growing repertoire of music. Amongst this are excellent original works by Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan-Williams, John Ireland and by many more modem composers. Most of the repertoire however consists of arrangements of music not originally written for brass band.

This book is designed as a guide for someone who wishes to begin scoring and arranging for brass band for the first time. From arranging a four part hymn tune to arranging more complex orchestral music the book offers step by step advice to help with many of the problems encountered by a new arranger and gives advice on the copyright law and publishing.

My experience as both a player and conductor in brass bands and as a professional orchestral player introduced me to a great deal of wonderful music which has shaped my own ideas on scoring and arranging. Having worked professionally as a brass band arranger for several years I have put these ideas and thoughts into this book.

I hope that you enjoy this book and Fmd its contents to be useful and informative, and I hope that you are encouraged to take your scoring and arranging for brass band further.
Andrew Duncan.
August 2005.