Folk music parts for concert band

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 11:35 AM

Leeneia: I often don't express my thoughts well, but I certainly didn't in any means intend to give the impression that I was using my age as an excuse for not learning anything. In fact the exact opposite is what I was meaning when I suggested teaching this old dog new tricks (to use a worn out old expression, tongue in cheek). The reason the age factor was worth noting is that I spent many years sitting on the sidelines while computer technology raced ahead (and continues to race on), and the dust I figuratively saw, was the fog of not understanding what is going on in that rapid moving race of technology due to my lack of knowledge and experience.

So this writer, who happens to be 60, is (figuratively speaking) sitting in a parked car beside the track and wanting to get into that race with those 200 mph dudes that are roaring by. Just like in a race, I gotta start up my car (those 200,000,000 brain cells), pull out onto the track, and get my speed up to 300 mph, or something really fast, to be able to catch up to to those folks.

Being 60 could conceivably cause me a problem in being competitive with the kids in a street basketball game, but it certainly has never occurred to me that it would be an impediment to learning, rather it is indicative of how many years I have let slip by while I elected to stay out of the race.

Hopefully I have clarified things a bit . . . if I have further muddied the water, then it does not indicate that I'm losing it at 60, but more likely that I didn't learn to express myself well at 20, and am still paying for it 40 years later.

Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 10:47 AM

Well, Eugene, if you don't even own a computer at home, I can see where downloading and editing MIDI's would not work.

Perhaps someone else associated with the band would be interested, someone retired, perhaps. I just had a talk with my sister-in-law, who shared some thoughts on retirement. To keep a husband from following his wife around all day, spying on her every move, and issuing constant corrections, one should

a. live in the biggest hour one can afford
b. buy him a puppy
c. get him a time-consuming hobby.

Downloading and editing music for a 25-member band sounds like a good hobby for such a couple. Show my post (above) to the band leader and see if he can think of anybody.
----
Re "Luddite" I don't have time for mp3's and hand-held gizmos either. In fact, I just went to Radio Shack and amused the staff by buying a little tape recorder. (I use it on airplanes and on wakeful, jet-lagged nights.)

However, do not use being 60 as a reason for not learning new things. Your brain has 200,000,000 brain cells capable of making aobut a trillion connections. The chemistry is still there, ready to work. You have the advantage over a kid that you memorize better. A lot of computer operation is based on memorizing.

I had a friend who had a stroke at 76 and continued to use her computer in the nursing home.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Jun 07 - 10:55 PM

I seem to have missed this thread when it first appeared, and while I can't offer much helpful it does stir some (mostly) fond memories.

I played in a college Concert Band for a couple of years, with a conductor who was a real purist and insisted on playing only music specifically written for Concert Band. No "concert band arrangements of orchestral music" for us.

The suggestions from GUEST,melinda, 25 Jun 07 - 05:43 PM are vaguely familiar, and seem representative of selections we played, although the only two pieces I remember specifically that we played were:

Invention On Two American Folk Tunes¹, by Andrew Kazdin. This was an incredibly complex piece that we played for the essential reason that nobody else could and for the secondary reason that Andy was assistant conductor of our band. (More recently he's been Director of Music Education for Brookline MA public schools, and may still be there(?).) While this would qualify for the "folk" category, it requires a lot of rehearsal to get it just right.

Circus Polka, by Igor Stravinski, which we played because it was historically significant and nobody else would play it. I'm told the elephants hated it, and I'm inclined to cast my opinion with the elephants, although with enough work it was "musical after a fashion." And it's hardly "folk," although it has a "mature reputation."

¹ Jacket notes from the (vinyl) recording made in 1962, a couple of years after I left the band:

Invention on Two American Folk Tunes, by Andrew Kazdin, was conceived by the composer while working in 1954 as a recording engineer for a young student folksinger. Peggy Seeger. Two of the songs recorded by Miss Seeger, "Katy Cruel" (a lively dance tune), and "When First unto This Country a Stranger I Came" (a slow ballad) — as well as a countertune devised by Mr. Kazdin — form the basis of the thematic material. The work falls into two large sections, divided by three staccato chords at the climax of an extended fugato. Although thematic development is achieved throughout the work by fragmentation, augmentation, and diminution, each of the tunes does appear without alteration in the section which it dominates: "Katy Cruel" in the high woodwinds and xylophone near the beginning of the work, and "When First unto This Country    as a French horn solo at the start of the second section.

Mr. Kazdin received the Bachelor of Music Degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1959. He is presently a graduate student in industrial management at M.I.T. and Assistant Conductor of the Concert Band. The Invention, completed in 1957, was preceded by three other band works: Marche Baroque (1953). Prelude and Happy Dance (1955), and the score for the M.I.T. film "The Social Beaver" (1956) which was made into a suite of the same name in 1959.

Not particularly useful for the purpose at hand, but I thought perhaps an interesting side note.

A number of composers have used/incorporated folk tunes, and the composers listed above are some of the better known among them. Not all of them sound realy "folky" in concert arrangements, but that the tunes are preserved in some excellent compositions is reassuring.

John

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 27 Jun 07 - 06:49 PM

Leenia: Ah, but the technological Luddite that I am means I've got a long way to go to . . . I still have to work my way through the last quarter of the 20th century before I can join this one.

My first computer was an Altair 8800 (circa 1974) back when the smallest IBM (then it was called a "mini" computer) was about the size of a spinet piano . . . no memory in those days, so programs were processed in realtime as they were entered via punched paper tape (or the teletype machine which was used as a keyboard). Made it as far as that marvel of computer capability and complexity, the "PC-XT --- with Turbo!" and could even do graphics using pixels consisting of X, O, I, ., *, etc. But by that time technology was running away from me so I lost interest (threw in the towel, some might say) and dropped out of computers completely.

Then about 20-something years later - about 2 years ago - at work I was issued a computer with Windows, mouse, CD drives, internet, eBay, etc. Man, I was like a kid in a candy store with daddy's credit card in my sticky leetle paws.

Now, having said all that, what's the point? Well, I still have a lot to learn to catch up with the average first grader when it comes to computers. I know there is all sorts of stuff floating around like MIDI, downloading music, Lili Pond, Finale, MP3, etc. ad infinitum . . . unfortunately, at this stage of my woebegotten existence, I don't understand any of it.

Yes, the computer Luddite, at 60, is an old dog who has much to learn, and learn he must, because at this point in time he is on the sidelines trying to figure what's happening as the racers roar by at 200 mph! All I can see is dust.

. . . and this fool is looking for music?   Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Jun 07 - 10:19 AM

Eugene, it sounds to me like you are ready for the wonderful world of MIDI, which allows mere mortals to get control of music. I believe a person using MIDI could produce custom music in about the same time it would take to locate music from some other party.

The main question is, how many parts does it take to keep your musicians happy? I'm not talking about parts that need to be different because some instruments are not C instruments, I'm talking about how many harmonizing lines you need.

If the band is content with the melody and oom pah, then you have it made. Get a music-MIDI program (I use Noteworthy Composer, about $40.) Download MIDI folksongs off the Internet, change the keys to suit, print, and voila!

Wait. You also need a MIDI piano keyboard. With the keyboard, you can compose your own harmony parts, which shouldn't be hard for a simple tune. I have a little keyboard that I bought at CompUSA years ago. It is about 20 inches long, fits on my desk top next to the QWERTY keyboard, and covers four octaves.

Try this. go to this site;

http://www.barefootsworld.net/midijamboree.html

and click on On Top of Old Smokey. Listen to the whole thing. It has melody, oom pah, some harmony after a while, and a little descant. If your band would like it, you can download it and edit the parts to suit, changing keys are necessary, print, distribute and play.

Sometimes a MIDI file isn't usable because the person who made it wasn't careful about timing. However, I've downloaded that particular On Top of Old Smokey, and it's okay. It sure has a lot of lines, but extra lines can be deleted with an editing program.
=====
With a MIDI keyboard and program you could also enter, edit and print music from books. Your public library probably has collections which would be good sources. Some of them are going to have the harmony thought out already, which is plus. Change it some to make it your own, and you won't have to worry about copyrights.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 27 Jun 07 - 08:51 AM

Tootler:

I would be interested in learning more about this music for group and orchestra (sounds almost like the name the rock group Deep Purple had for one of their albums . . . "Concerto Number One for Orchestra and Group").

What titles are available? Are those pieces published? Who is distributing them? etc.

Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Tootler
Date: 26 Jun 07 - 07:50 PM

I've just spent the evening playing music arranged for folk group and symphony orchestra.

A very interesting experience which seemed to be well received.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: JennyO
Date: 26 Jun 07 - 09:41 AM

Is anyone else alarmed by the thought of written arranged parts for concerts, of folk music?

I think anybody who saw Danny Spooner performing with the Sydney Chamber Orchestra recently and heard the sublime marrying of folk with classical music would not have any worries at all.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Tootler
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 07:19 PM

Is anyone else alarmed by the thought of written arranged parts for concerts, of folk music?

Not really. I have played several in recorder groups. Some were very good, some were dire.

At the end of the day it depends on how sympathetic the arranger is to the original tune. Some seem to have a feel for the music others don't.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 06:44 PM

Melinda: Thanks for the tips from your band director friend on how to find folk music at the Chatfield Music Library. I guess I have been trying to do it the hard way.

Richard: I don't see how arranging even the simplest of folk tunes (normally played on a single lute, guitar, banjo, bowed saw, or whatever) for a full band, or even a full orchestra, would be alarming to anyone. Music is music and can be expressed in many ways, simple or complex.

Many simple popular and folk tunes have been arranged for orchestras and played by everyone from Henry Mancini, to the Boston Pops, Royal Philharmonic, and other orchestras.

Conversely, one of the most beautiful treatments I have ever heard of Mozart's 40th Symphony was by a solo flautist (I think it was Jean-Paul Rampal). Franz Liszt wrote his Hungarian Rhapsodies in two versions, one for full orchestra and the second for solo piano. The Supremes and other popular music groups have arranged orchestral works for 4 or 5 member combos.

Music can be either increased or decreased in instrumental complexity and the real art that makes or breaks the new arrangements is how well they are written . . . and, of course how well they are performed.

Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Tootler
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 06:04 PM

If you are looking at music from the UK, look for music for Concert wind band rather than brass band.

Concert wind bands tend to be a mixture of brass and reeds with flutes thrown in for good measure. You will usually get parts in C i.e. at pitch, and in Bb and Eb as these are the common transpositions. Bass parts are in Bass Clef.

Military bands often use a similar mix of instruments, especially for concert performances, so you can often use parts intended for military bands.

AFAIK, Brass band music is exclusively in Bb and Eb and all parts are in treble clef.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 05:55 PM

Is anyone else alarmed by the thought of written arranged parts for concerts, of folk music?

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,melinda
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 05:43 PM

Well, I heard from my band-director friend this weekend. He's also a folk musician, and had some advice (abridged slightly):

"The on-line catalog at the Chatfield library is a little weird; use the "keyword" line to search for stuff. Do a search for "folk" and you'll get over 160 answers; some will be suitable but others won't. You'll have to wade through them all. If you copy and paste interesting results into a blank document, you'll have a record of what you're interested in..."

"...as for specific pieces based on folk music, the English Folk Song Suite by Vaughan Williams, the Second Suite by Holst, and the pieces by Percy Grainger are all part of the standard band repertoire... but may be too substantial for a smaller or less-advanced group."

"Look for pieces by Clare Grundman - he's written several excellent band arrangements of traditional tunes, and they're more accessible to less-skilled bands. I particularly like his "Kentucky 1800" - a nice, well-written medley of several traditional Appalachian tunes. Unfortunately, Chatfield doesn't seem to have a complete copy of this. He also wrote four different "American Folk Rhapsody" pieces."

"There are some arrangements by Harold L. Walters which are interesting but very easy to play; two of them, "Country And Western" and "Hootenanny" ...are either Totally Stupid or make for amusing crowd-pleasers, depending on your mood (I think they're stupid). Some of his other arrangements are a little less, um, insipid; I like his "Deep River Rhapsody" and "American Folk Suite."

"There are also some folksong arrangements by James Ployhar... I think these are pedestrian and academic... less interesting to play and listen to. Your mileage may vary."

"For all these guys, just put the last name in the "keyword" line; don't try to find them by using "composer" or "arranger" because you'll get poor results."

"For sources other than Chatfield, unfortunately the commercial music-publishing world has little interest in "traditional" band music... the few companies who publish band music tend to have only academic music with (my opinion) little musical interest."

"By the way, don't be put off by the phrase "Military Band" in British publications; this is the same thing as what Americans would call a "Concert Band" with mixed brass and woodwind instruments, as differentiated from the "Brass Band" which consists of a specific number of brass instruments only. There's a long story in there, but it might not be helpful right now."

"I hope your friend finds this useful!"

So there you have it. I think he has even more information, but didn't want to overload people. I can probably get more from him if it's needed.

Have fun!
-melinda from Albany

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 04:40 PM

Queen Victoria    (1819-1901)(r. 1837-1901)

Percy Grainger - Born 1882
Alive 19 years before Victoria's death makes him a Victorian.
"Grainger began writing songs seriously when he was a student at Frankfurt. His first Kipling setting, Soldier Soldier, dates from May 16, 1898, a few weeks before his sixteenth birthday. Using poems by Kipling, Longfellow, Burns and others he composed a half dozen songs for voice and piano in that year and another ten in 1899." Makes him a Victorian composer.
"In 1905 came the fateful trip to Brigg, where he was to notate his first folksongs. In the autumn of that year he set about making choral arrangements of some of the songs he had taken down by ear."
Makes him an Edwardian song collector.
Date of death 1961
Made him quite old (79).

Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,Aoliandorian
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 02:18 PM

Try Townsends 'The Village Band' book available from [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 01:44 PM

Jack: Oh, I don't expect to get music now for our performance on 2 July, rather I am always searching for new stuff we haven't got in our library of music. I must have really screwed up one of my postings if I said it in such a manner to cause confusion.

As it is, we have very little in the way of old fashioned folk music in our small band library . . . mostly marches, patriotic stuff, show tunes, big band, contemporary & popular music, etc.   Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 01:09 PM

Vaughan Williams (three As)

Cecil Sharp (no E on the end).

Google for misspelt names and you'll only get information from people who can't spell.

Grainger died in 1961, not exactly Victorian.

I can't see an amateur band getting any of these suggestions together in ten days if they haven't even ordered the parts yet.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,Geoff the Duck
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 11:28 AM

Percy Grainger, like Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Vaughn Williams was a composer in the "classical tradition". Like Vaughn Williams, he used folk music as an inspiration for various works, often using the melody from a folk song as the starting point.
He was born in Australia. Grainger, along with Cecil Sharpe and others, was one of the late Victorian/ early Edwardian fok song collectors - some info about him HERE
I am not a great listener to orchestral music, so can't say how close his work is to the original tunes.

As for using brass band arrangements with other instruments. If you are using, for instance, Bb brass insruments and clarinets in Bb there isn't a problem. The clarinet is working in basically the same range as the cornet parts. During time at school I played with a mixed wind band where cornets and clarinets shared the same music.
If you were using instruments in different keys. Bb cornet and C natural trumpet or flute (or wooden flute in D), you would have the problem of transposing parts so that all instruments fitted together.

Here's a link to try a search within The Music Room (Not the folkie shop in Cleckheton)
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 10:57 AM

Kat: I suspect we are pushing this thread into the BS category, but those cats of yours (and Dawg, too) look like fine critters. By the way, a main distinguishing feature of Korats - if you look them straight in the face, they have big eyes with a forehead depression between them and a thin pointed chin, giving them a heart-shaped face (they are judged on the accuracy of the heart shape). Also, they usually lounge about, when contented, with the tip of their tongue slightly showing, and the are single coated (no undercoat).   Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 11:55 PM

Wow, what beauties! I had never heard of them before, but found a lovely site with photos. They sound like very congenial cats. I only have two left; the first time that's been so in over 30 years! You can see the two who own us, plus a couple of others and the Dawg, a McNab border collie,, as well as one of my daughter's dogs on this page.

As to the music, have you looked into anything done by Percy Grainger? I am not that familiar with him, but know he wrote for concert band.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 11:46 PM

katlaughing: BTW, my favorite of all the cats I've ever had was a real sweet little Korat that owned me back in the late 1970's. She also showed well and I took her to shows all over the south & central states . . . she loved shows, she loved the judges, and just basked in all the attention. Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 11:39 PM

Melinda: Thanks for the help and advice. I knew that the Brits had different instruments in their "local" bands, primarily limited to brass & drums, and some of them in different keys than the ones we have in US bands. So, with some of their music we either (1) might not have the correct instruments to play it and/or (2) our woodwinds (half the band) would revolt because they got left out!

A friend in Zurich sent me a chart for the Russian folk song "Vichernjia Zvon" (Evening Bells), a beautiful piece of music that I have always loved. Their Swiss bands are seemingly more like ours, so it had parts for all the instruments in our band except flutes and saxes. Just an aberration he said, as they have both instruments in his band, so, maybe Continental bands actually are more like ours.

Maybe if your director friend knows of some good folk tunes that CBBLIB has in their collection, that would be nice info for me to get. I could look through their search mode forever and never come up with those folk songs, as I might never think to enter their names in the search function. I wish they had either a alphabetical catalogue that I could print out, or at least a browse function, so I could read down through their list and serendipitously find folk songs that might otherwise have never entered my mind.

But, then, sometimes us billhillies have far fetched ideas!

Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,melinda
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 07:47 PM

From my friend who directed the 'traditional' (US) band I used to play in:
"Be aware that concert band music in the US is very different from brass band music in the UK, and they are not compatible. If your friend is in a US amateur band, it's probably a mixture of woodwinds, brass, and percussion in a somewhat flexible format, whereas an amateur band in the UK is most likely and all-brass group with specific instrumentation."

I remember playing some folksong-based pieces in his band, and I've asked him to suggest specific pieces which might be available from Chatfield Library; he said he'd get back to me later this week.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 07:41 PM

**Big Grin**

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 07:39 PM

Meester Duck:

Thanks for the link to B&H (the brand of my 1st clarinet in 4th grade); I'll check 'em out.

We are having a fundraiser concert in about 1 1/2 weeks, but small individual donations won't buy much music. We are working on getting tax exempt status, then we can go after business & corporate support.

A lot of the older traditional folk music was published in 1st couple of decades of the 20th century, as almost every village had a community band back then . . . not so any more, so one often has to comb the countryside to find old out-of-print folk music band charts. I have found some, and keep looking for more.

Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,Geoff the Duck
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 02:56 PM

One of the main publishers for Brass Band in the UK is Boosey & Hawkes.
You could try searching their web site BLICKY
Of course, it has to be bought, but that is a good reason to have fundraising concerts.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 02:41 PM

kat:

I guess it's psychological. but I read it not as someone, but as something . . . the latter fits the context of the statement, so I never noticed the wrong word.

I understand catsRme (sorta like "O,uc,Imnxtc"), but what is **bg**? I often see where asterisks are used on the compooter, but have never understood what they mean.

Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 02:04 PM

Yep, EuGene, catsRme!**bg** And, of course I meant: a composer,would be able to come up with someone something for you,

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: treewind
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 01:53 PM

ABC Notation

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 01:21 PM

Thanks folks for the sugestions and advice.

Jack: ABC transcription? What does that term mean?

Melinda: Yep, know about CBBLIB -- have borrowed stuff from them and have bought some stuff they sell on eBay. Great folks & lotsa band music.

Susan: I hadn't tried LOC yet, so I need to learn how to navigate through their vast collection, find what I want, and print it out. Of course it has to be older public domain stuff, as they won't provide images of copywrited materials . . . that's fine, as most of the folk music has been sang enough years to be open to all.

katlaughing: You sound like a cat fancier with that moniker, so we're friends from the gitgo (I've had many and loved 'em all!). Anyhoo, I will be playing around with various links to learn the navigation rules and see what I can find. I'll also keep your brother in mind, as I want to come up with a team "fight song" or march for our small town high school (about 60 graduates this year).

Man, I like this forum!   Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 07:27 PM

Welcome to the Mudcat, EuGene. If you click on the "Links" up on the top bar, it will take you to a page where you can choose "Sheet Music" and be led to an alphabetical listing of links various Mudcatters have posted over the years. In particular you might want to check the Lester Levy Sheet Music link. A lot of it may only be for voice and piano, but ya never know.

Also, have you asked around at any local high schools or colleges? Maybe they have a music lending library.

Failing that, my brother, a composer,would be able to come up with someone for you, but I don't know if he'd have the time and he would have to have some kind fo compensation. He studied with American composer, Roy Harris, who did arrange some folk songs, but not for band that I know of.

Good luck!

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 06:40 PM

Here's a little taste of the LOC:

Score and Sound File for Item #16, Door Latch Quickstep.

Once you fall down that rabbit hole, you can grasp how to search in there. You may need some help-- grabbing a handy preschooler or preteen is advised.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: GUEST,melinda
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 06:25 PM

Try the Chatfield Brass Band Library in Chatfield Minnesota. They have the world's largest collection of Concert Band music and will have lots of things you can use. Borrowing from them is easy and inexpensive.

Look them up in Google; they have a web site with a catalog - it may take a few tries to get the right results, because it's a little quirky to use. You need to know the specific title, etc. before you order - they don't have staff to look up requests like "please send me some folk music."

I used to play in a "traditional" concert band and we found missing parts for 100-year-old pieces as well as full sets of parts for recent arrangements.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 06:18 PM

The National Library of Scotland has this (c. 1805):

G. Schetky
A Collection of Scottish Music, consisting of Twelve Slow Airs & Twelve
Reels and Strathspeys Arranged for a Military Band for 2 Clarinets 2 Flutes
2 Horns, Trumpet & Bassoon. Respectfully Dedicated to His Excellency Earl
Moira, Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces in Scotland
London, Printed and Sold by Preston, at his Wholesale Warehouse, 97 Strand.

Schetky was a contemporary of Burns. These tunes are in an unmistakably folk idiom but they aren't the instantly recognizable numbers you're looking for. (They would have been instantly recognizable to Burns, though).

I have a full ABC trascription of one of them.

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 06:04 PM

Susan: I haven't looked at LOC yet, in fact I haven't a clue how to go look at their music. I did look over that list you googled up and there were several music sellers that I haven't seen yet. There is so much to look through that I will probably need to come in here some in the evening and on the weekend just to dig through it. I'm not on-line at home.

Anyhoo, it is 5:00 PM here (quit-thirty!) and my sister asked me to come over for supper -- Mom taught me as a kid to never miss a free meal, so I gotta getta gobba gone! Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 05:29 PM

Have you looked at the Library of Congress? They have a lot of sheet music online, but I dunno about all-parts scores.

~S~

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 05:23 PM

Thanks Gurney & Susan:

(I'm at work, so I am on and off the compooter somewhat) Some of the tunes I was looking for this morning were: "Golden Vanity", "Peg 'O My Heart", "Clementine", "Little Brown Church in the Wildwood", "Blow the Man Down", and "My Wild Irish Rose". I did find some simple sheet music (piano, guitar, & vocal)for a couple of them, but not a set of parts for a band.

Anyhoo, our little band consists of piccolo; flutes; Bb clarinets; alto & bass clarinets; alto & tenor saxes; cornets & trumpets; french horns; t-bones; baritones; tubas; drums & cymbals - - about 25 members in all.

Sometimes one can find a folk song or two in those little "5 x 7" marching band booklets, but to get a set of them for the whole band would run $150 - $200, more than I could possibly come up with. I do know that a lot of old traditional music was published in the 1st part of the 20th century when small town bands were everywhere -- maybe there are folks who sell that old music and I just haven't found them yet. Also, maybe some small publishing houses sell reprints of the traditional stuff.

Anyone out there know of who might have published such music, as Gurney suggested???   Eu

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 05:03 PM

THESE FOLKS offer free full-length MP3 downloads of their well-described music. If you look through their catalog using your bowser's "Find-in-page" feature, looking for the word |folk| you will stumble into some choices.

~S~

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 04:54 PM

.... I got a LOT of Google results with this search term:

folk "concert band music"

Try clicking THIS and you should get the results I found.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 04:40 PM

Mel Bay is a publisher you might look into; they have a huge number of large-format songbooks in paperback and they might well have what you're looking for.

Other than that, people here are pretty good at doing online searches. If you make requests title by title, you will probably meet with a lot of willing help that may even help you learn how to do the searches yourself. Being around Mudcat can't help but extend your computer knowledge! Most of us like to think it's made US smarter. :~)

So what's a song you're thinking of doing with the band? Let's start there.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Folk music parts for concert band
From: Gurney
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 04:35 PM

A couple of composers have done this, so perhaps some-one can tell you who they are, and you can come at the problem backwards, so to speak.

Ralph Vaughn-Williams did it in England. A medley of folk-songs that traddies can sing the rude bits of.

Subject: Folk music parts for concert band
From: EuGene
Date: 20 Jun 07 - 03:29 PM

This is, admittedly, a rather broad question with respect to folk songs, but very specific with respect to their format. I am a member of a small 25-member community band; we would love to play some of the good old folk music but have difficulty finding sheet music that provides a score & parts for bands.

I figure that among all the folks on this forum there are others who are members of a community or school band who might have knowledge of sources for such band charts. I have very little luck finding such music through all the usual publishing and distributing companies (such as J.W. Pepper, Barnhouse, SheetMusicPlus, etc.)

Any suggestions?   Eu