 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2004-12-15 19:44
I'm playing in a group with a couple of horns and strings, and we're looking for some easy combo arrangements to play (we've got Eb, Bb and C instruments). It's just a pick up group that plays for fun, so we're also looking for something fairly inexpensive. Probably, music that would be suitable for a middle school combo would work for us. I'd love to hear recommendations from any teachers as to where one can find either free or relatively cheap arrangements of some jazz standards.
Thanks,
Kay
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Author: Painterspoon
Date: 2004-12-15 20:13
Why don't you contact your local middle school or high school and ask directly? If you have any teacher friends, get them to ask the music teachers for you. What about the Fake books, or Real books? You probably know they come in at least C, Bb, and Eb...Then you can have fun doing your own arrangements, or having people play 3rds and 7ths under the melody, and so on...what a great way to learn improvisation...
Melissa
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Author: larryb
Date: 2004-12-15 20:15
I seem to recall that there's a piece by Spohr for clarinet, two horns and strings. think it's an octet. I don't know what key the horns are in, but then could be Eb.
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2004-12-15 21:44
The key thing we're looking for is inexpensive, and already arranged. We've transposed melody lines to the various keys (we've got fake books), but we don't know squat about arranging. (none of us has any music training beyond high school band and orchestra) We checked the mail order music store that my son's school uses for arrangements, and it's a minimum of $40.00 per chart (I assume that covers royalty fees for school performances). We're not performing anywhere, just want something that sounds good to play together. After struggling trying to improvise, we want something easy to play that sounds good as a group. So, any web sources that anyone knows about, or mail order places you can recommend that might have stuff a bit cheaper than $40/song would be welcome.
Thanks
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Author: BG ★2017
Date: 2004-12-16 00:24
One idea would be to try one of this website's sponsors, SheetMusicPlus, and do a search under song book titles. Look for Jazz Combo Paks, often arranged by Frank Mantooth. They sell for approximately $40-$45 dollars and will have at least four songs per pak and each includes a demo CD. There are many different paks from which to choolse. This would, of course, lower your cost per arrangement and they are very good arrangements. Perhaps this might be what you are looking for. Enjoy your combo experience!
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2004-12-16 14:49
We've got a clarinet, sax, cello, bass and occasional percussion. The cello can play what would be arranged for trombone.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-12-17 21:16
I'm afraid that $40.00 per chart is about what you're going to have to pay to suit your eclectic instrumentation.
You've already hit the "fake book" option. Some fake books are available in Bb, Eb, C and bass clef C, but as you have noted all that you get is the melody line and chord symbols. Filling in all of that harmony is where the extra money goes when purchasing the full arrangement.
The Kendor Music Publishing firm has something called the "Kendo Kombos" (cute, huh?), which are for reduced instrumentation (three saxes, two trumpet, one trombone plus rhythm, I think). But, they still won't be suitable for your group, and they're still probably in the $30.00 - 40.00 range.
My "commercial" arrangements run $32.00 per chart if already orchestrated, and if I am seeking something that has not already been run up, then I need a lead sheet, 42.00 and (preferably) a CD of the way we want it done sent off to the arranger. Six weeks later, it magically appears in our mailbox, chock full of notes and chords and all suchlike. Considering the final result (i.e., it gives me a well orchestrated version of something more current than, say, The Peppermint Twist), it's well worth the money.
One arranger that I use (Walter Stuart, down in Orlando) charges as much as sixty bux for some of his off the rack arrangements. They are, however, well worth the money, and form some of the core repertory of my group.
In the pipeline for me at this point is a full orchestration of Play That Funky Music, White Boy. This will be the only (as in ONLY) performance version of that magnum opus in print when it gets finished, and we're looking forward to having on hand against the inevitable requests (about every other wedding to date).
And, getting one done from scratch (as I've had to do once) starts running into the big money. We do In Hollywood (Everybody Is A Star), which is a Village People tune that has never been commercially published in the past. To have something like that song taken down from the recording and orchestrated out runs up the meter VERY quickly
As for "paying for the rights", the official version goes something like this:
The "rights" to a piece of music are held by the composer, pure and simple. As I've had it explained to me, an arranger is producing stuff that cannot be copyrighted in any way shape or form, save that of the actual printed piece of paper upon which it is given. (In effect, your payment for the arrangement is the payment for the "rights" to use his written expression of the tune in question.)
(Incidentally, none of this applies to expressions (both music and in print) more than 100 years in the past. These are in public domain and can be used without fear of any problems. So, if you get your own arranger to do a version of Minuet in G, you're home free.)
However, having bought the materials necessary to produce the sounds of "modern music", you still have the obligation to pay the COMPOSER his or her due every time you use his/her creative property. How is this done?
Ever heard of BMI or ASCAP? They are a lot more than just some initials on a 45 rpm record label. These organizations were created, in part, as "clearing houses" to ensure that those who created empherial stuff like music were properly compensated for their efforts. They (in effect) remove the problem from the normal legal system and handle it directly without any interaction between the users (those who benefit from the performance) and the composers.
The way that it works is that clubs, hotels, bars, whorehouses...whatever venues involved in the presentation of music...pay something called a "seat tax" directly to the ASCAP/BMI operations. (In effect, the size of the establishment sets the price for the "license" to play all tunes in ASCAP or BMIs library.) Those two groups in turn randomly sample performance venues (a very, very small sample, I have been told) and then apportion the total amount (less processing costs) out to the member composers based upon some arcane formula.
From ASCAP's comprehensive website FAQ:
"Some people mistakenly assume that musicians and entertainers must obtain licenses to perform copyrighted music or that businesses where music is performed can shift their responsibility to musicians or entertainers. The law says all who participate in, or are responsible for, performances of music are legally responsible. Since it is the business owner who obtains the ultimate benefit from the performance, it is the business owner who obtains the license. Music license fees are one of the many costs of doing business."
END OF DIRECT QUOTE
It should be noted that this applies to music played for fee performance, as well as for incidental uses and for no fee (i.e., tunes piped over the telephone while people are on hold, a specific use mentioned in ASCAP literature, by the way).
In effect, they get you either coming or going. It seems rather picky until you look at the other side of the coin. I know if any of the music that I have written (three show tunes for a work-related musical review I helped put on back in the early 1970's) were ever to catch on, I'd expect something for my efforts.
But, if "Damn It VA, We Want Our Dough!" ever makes #1 with a bullet, the only option that I have is to pursue action against each infringement through the civil courts system. This runs into the big bucks in a hurry. With ASCAP and BMI, my (theoretical) membership as one of their composers would entitle me to the use of their system (without fee, as I recall it) to recover my lost millions.
Returning to the performance side of the coin again, I have a piece of contract language that puts the client under the obligation to make sure of the ASCAP/BMI "seat tax". Thus far, everyone has signed off on it without even bothering to read same. If I ever get a call, I just make the referral to the venue and let them sort it out. Contracts are truly wonderful things...
Now, if you are working a hotel in Vegas with your group (imagine, topless 'cellists), it's quite likely that the performance involved will be of the type that the clearinghouses will concern themselves with. At my level (performance group in a large city with dozens of jobs each year), it's far less. I have NEVER had any indication that ASCAP or BMI were even remotely interested in any job that I was ever involved in, as performer or leader. (This covers over thirty years of performing for money.)
If you're in a junior high school gymnasium in Frankfort KY, with your odd instrumentation playing for fun and not for profit, I'm just as certain that the level of scrutiny goes down by several orders of magnitude further. I've not researched the cases involved, but I would venture to say that they've got bigger fish to fry than small fry like your group (and mine, for that matter).
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