Klarinet Archive - Posting 000329.txt from 1994/11

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Contemporary music
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 1994 20:01:42 -0500

A number of very interesting posts tried to address the question of the
wind band and contemporary music. Certainly the bulk of the music played
in both large and small concert bands and wind ensembles is contemporary
and some of it may be very good music. I am not qualified to judge what
is good or bad, only time tells that and most of what is written for the
wind ensemble (and the orchestra too) falls by the wayside mostly because
the public does not find that it sustains them musically. In the final
analysis the matter is economic. If the public will turn out for the
Holst suites over and over as they turn out for Beethoven's 9th, then
it is successful music and maybe even good music, too.

But the problem with the wind band is that pallette of orchestral color
does not appear to be rich enough to sustain the musical needs of a
large body of paying public. One music critic made the explicit statement
that winds and brass alone for long periods of time become boring because
the string character is missing.

This may be a defect in wind bands. All of the most successful pieces
are short, punchy tunes. The Sousa marches, besides having a military
function, are the most popular of the wind band repertoire because they
are short. A work of, say, 30 minutes that consists only of winds and
brass (and percussion, of course) has a tendency to feel empty of
orchestral color. Even a very long work such as the Hindemith
Symphony or the Gordon Jacob Music for a Festival have not been able to
change that phenomenon. Name a single work for band of 30 or more
minutes that has remained in the repertoire or that is likely to so
remain. Name a single 12-tone composition for orchestra that has
remained in the repertoire or that is likely to do so. You will
strain to find one or two such works and people will probably argue
if they are going to be part of the permanent repertoire (as much
as music has a PERMANENT repetoire).

Another factor has to do with the fact that it takes years before a string
player can perform effectively. So given a group of youngsters playing
strings, the performances can be dreadful. But a band of 6th grader can
make acceptable music and, therefore, young people gravitate to that
kind of performance. Let's face it. Clarinet is easier than cello. Trumpet
is easier (and louder) than violin. And clarinets and trumpets are cheap.
A bad quality cello has a price to scare you.

So it is not surprising that bands are more popular in the US than
orchestras, but they certainly are not more profitable. I play bass
clarinet in the Sousa Band with Keith Brion and it is one of a half
dozen bands in America that is fully professional. And even at that
level, it is tough to get gigs and to come out in the black at the
end of a year. When we tour, we are a show, an entertainment trying
to duplicate the concerts of the Sousa band in the 1920s and 1930s.
People come for the nostalgia factor, not for the music. And some of
what we play was very contemporary at the time that it was written.
Sousa did an arrangement of Verdi songs that was practically brand new
music when it was first played. But that is not what people came to
hear. They came to hear Frank Simon play the variations on Carnival
of Venice, etc.

I am not putting bands down because I have always loved playing in
them, but I tend to agree with the critic who suggested that, over
longer periods, there is not enough orchestral color to keep an
audience enchanted. There seems to be enough such color in an
orchestra, judging by the fact that it has been successful as
a performing medium (financially successful) for a couple of hundred
years. The band does not have a record like that.

The very best composer who wrote a long, LONG piece for winds was,
in my opinion, Mozart. And his serenade in B-flat for 12 winds
and a string bass is a tough piece for the audience to sit through.
It is 55 minutes of wind music with as much color as those 12
instruments can make, yet it is not a successful piece. I am not
saying that it is not a great piece, only that it is not programmable
except in very unusual circumstances. But do Beethoven's 9th (also
55 minutes) and you'll fill the house.

So it is too easy to simply offer the band as the medium for introduction
of contemporary music. That's not where the paying public is going.
Karel Husa's compositions become popular only after they have been
transcribed for orchestra. (That is probably too strong a statement.)
The public goes to orchestral concerts and they want to hear what they know.
You can slip in a contemporary piece from time to time, but give a
whole evening of them and you'll be playing to an empty house.

And whatever your wishes are, you can't beat the economics of an
empty house.

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
====================================

   
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