September 11, 2008

 
“From Africa to Alaska”
 
The members of the Golden West Pops come from all walks of life. Some are accountants, some nurses and a few are retired.  Every one of us is unique in his/her own way. Our love of music makes us all the same in one respect but we sometimes forget how interesting and different our fellow member’s lives are from our own.
 Attached is the bio for just one of those individuals.  Since this article was written there have been many more accomplishments to add to the story. A trip to Alaska being the last great adventure, a beautiful new instrument which has a story unto itself and a planned showing of their artwork in the next few months.

Just click on the link below to read about the life of this very talented musician.

I started looking into the origin of the “Concert Band and what, by today’s standards, does that mean for the Golden West Pops. So here is what I found. Hopefully it will give you some insight as to who we are and why we exist.Definition: Concert Band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra or wind ensemble, is defined as “a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind, brass and percussion instrument family”. Its repertoire includes original wind compositions, arranged classical items, light music, and popular tunes. Instrumentation is similar to the marching band but it’s primary function is as a concert ensemble (thank goodness!).

History:

In the 18th century military ensembles, known as Harmonie bands, did double duty as entertainment at the royal courts sometimes alone or with strings. Composers, Mozart to be certain, began writing chamber music for these groups which included two oboes, two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons. (ok, so not quite what we have today) When Turkish music was introduced it contributed to the expansion of the “Western European” wind band due to the dramatic percussion parts. This required the addition of percussion instruments such as bass drum, cymbals and triangles as well as the piccolo to balance out the weight of the percussion. (yeah PICs!!) Eventually more clarinets and brass were added and by 1810 the “wind band” was developed into pretty much what we have today.

In the 19th century the English and American traditions mainly used the Military Bands for ceremonial and festive occasions. They performed mainly marches. The only time wind bands were used in a concert setting was when they performed transcriptions of orchestral or operatic pieces. There were very few if any original concert works for a large wind ensemble. In 1909 the first notable and original symphonic work for wind ensemble was written by Gustav Holst. (can you guess?) Everyone’s favorite, First Suite in E-Flat. After that a variety of British, American, Canadian and Australian composers began writing pieces. Most notably are Howard Cable, Percy Grainger and Ralph Vaughan-Williams. In 1952 Frederick Fennell established the Eastman School of Music Wind Ensemble. This is considered to be the beginning of what is known as the modern Wind Ensemble. It is generally modeled after the wind section of a Wagner orchestra. Considered to have one player on a part this is only true with chamber pieces. Full band pieces require doubling or tripling of the clarinets and trumpets. Contemporary composers found that the wind ensemble offered a welcome opportunity to perform new music. College band directors have been the driving force in expansion and improvement of the repertoire for the typical concert band.

Most adult bands outside of colleges are community bands. A community band consists of wind and percussion players generally sponsored by a city or town and consisting of amateur performers. The standard concert band will have several players on a part depending on the personnel and the conductor. The Wind Ensemble, however, will have very little doubling, mostly in the flutes and clarinets. >

And so the Golden West Pops is formed as a community band in the form of a Wind Ensemble. Look to future postings to give you the “History of the Pops”.

TTFN
Carol

Each year around November I start looking for new pieces for the group to play the next year. We usually have a theme of some sort and carry about 30 songs in our folders. About a third of these pieces are ones we can’t get rid of; Star Spangled Banner, Armed Forces Salute , America the Beautiful etc. The rest I try and select with a particular theme or style in mind. One year we had Broadway /musicals as a theme and included everything from “That’s Entertainment” arranged by Warren Barker to “Evita” by Andrew Lloyd Webber to “Selections from Mamma Mia” by Abba.

This year our theme is music through the ages. We have a couple of pieces from the 20’s, some ragtime selections, a few swing pieces, surfer music, jazz, rock, Dixieland, Latin, funk and even some classical. As we rehearse I try and point out the differences in the styles: Dixieland versus Ragtime, surfer music versus jazz etc. This keeps the rehearsals interesting as we try, for instance, to play two pieces back to back that are close to the same style but need to be played differently.

History of Ragtime style music:

Just before the twentieth century began, a craze for "ragged music" swept the United States . After enjoying great popularity for a few decades, ragtime faded, as all crazes do. But it left a permanent mark on American music. Not only was ragtime itself one of the first widely popular styles of music that actually developed in the U.S., but it also played a major part in the development of a style that has been called "America's music": jazz.

By the 1920's ragtime was considered "old hat". New crazes came along, and new kinds of music. But ragtime continued to be performed and recorded, and it clearly had a major influence on early jazz greats such as "Jelly Roll" Morton, and on early jazz styles such as Dixieland and "Harlem Stride" jazz piano. As jazz went on to develop other styles, ragtime faded and was nearly forgotten. But some enthusiasts who were exploring the roots of jazz began a ragtime revival in the 1940's. The revival gained momentum very slowly until, in 1973, the movie "The Sting" reintroduced ragtime to the general public. Classic rags, particularly Joplin 's "The Entertainer", became once again a part of the standard band and piano repertoire. Ragtime continues to be popular with both musicians and audiences and has at last gained widespread respect and recognition as an art that produced works of true genius.

Pollyanna Gorman
Music Director Conductor