Klarinet Archive - Posting 000276.txt from 2004/12

From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Sousa Collection
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 18:06:58 -0500

Yeah, there is often a good reason why a work has remained=20
unpublished. When I received the microfiche of the sextet by Br=E9ton,=20
although it was a delight to put in a readable form and gave six of us a=20
terrific good time playing a "world premiere" rehearsal of the piece, and=20
although it is an important contribution to woodwind literature, it has=20
some big problems here and there -- problems which will be a labor of love=
=20
for someone to fix well enough to make it performable, in my opinion.

I ought to have mentioned that only a small percentage of the first section=
=20
of unpublished works in the Sousa Collection are by Sousa. There seems to=
=20
be hundreds of composers represented there. Only one of the pieces I=20
picked was by Sousa. My idea was to create playable files of maybe the=20
first 20 measures of each piece and then make a decision where to go. I=
=20
certainly didn't want to pay $500 up front for pieces which I'd end up=20
throwing in the trash. All one has to do is to take a look at some of the=
=20
pieces available on the California Sheet Music Project to know that most of=
=20
the works wouldn't be worth even a couple of bucks. But before Mother's=20
Day last year, I put in the keyword "mother" and ran into a lullaby=20
composed by Louis Moreaux Gottschalk. So I downloaded it, put it into=20
Finale, created a MIDI file and a clarinet part and played it, Karaoke and=
=20
sing-along, for our family Mother's Day gathering. It was no major find,=20
but it was a step up from most of the other works.

Oliver

At 02:16 PM 12/16/2004, you wrote:
>This may not be a great loss. We have played some Sousa marches that have=
=20
>been labeled as recently discovered and personally I didn't think it was=20
>an accident that they had never been published.
>
>Gary

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