Course Description
The British Brass Band ensemble trains brass players for the musical, technical, and physical demands of their instrument. Playing in the band will enhance finger and tongue dexterity, improve reading skills, benefit embouchure endurance, and increase musical awareness and unit cohesion as sections and a full band.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will assume leadership roles in the ensemble, including leading sectional rehearsals, and they will demonstrate technical skill, musicianship, and leadership in the ensemble at the graduate/professional level.
Athena Title
British Brass Band
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will: * Be exposed to the sound of this ensemble - more lush and mellow than the typical orchestra brass ensemble * Perform repertoire that encompasses a wide variety of styles, including excellent original brass band works, transcriptions of orchestral works, as well as marches and other light pieces. The original brass band works will feature British composers such as Holst and Elgar, moving through the timeline to Eric Ball and Wilfred Heaton, to current composers, such as Kenneth Downie, Peter Graham, Kevin Norbury, Philip Sparke, and Paul Lovatt- Cooper. As the brass band is now flourishing in the United States, we will also feature American composers such as Bruce Broughton, Stephen Bulla, James Curnow, William Himes, and Joseph Turrin. * Develop musical and technical skills, including enhancing finger and tongue dexterity, improve reading skills, benefit embouchure endurance, and increase musical awareness and unit cohesion as sections and as a full band.
Topical Outline
1. General characteristics of brass band music in British composers, from Holst and Elgar to current composers such as Kenneth Downiest and Philip Sparke. 2. General characteristics of brass band music by American composers, such as Bruce Broughton and Stephen Bulla. 3. General compositional characteristics of the composers whose works are studied and performed. 4. Technical and musical requirements of each work studied and performed.
Syllabus
Public CV