Posts tagged band arrangement

In one of my previous posts, I wrote about the Paul Manz work, Aria, in which I am enchanted thanks to it’s fluidity and melancholic air, and my band arrangement is, well, in the cards right now because the Sibelius 6 (I have the demo.) costs $328-something and I have to either win a sweepstakes or lottery or hope that my blogging career is as lucrative as it can be. I initially turned to Anne McGinty’s transcription of Bach’s Air on the G String, but that did relatively little to influence me. I turned to Alfred Reed’s transcriptions of Bach’s other pieces and found what I’m looking for in my score. I wrote a snippet of the first clarinet part of the work, dusted off my old clarinet from my room, played it as written (It has been four years since I played it!), and praised myself for the test drive.

Again, the piece is intended to be college-level, just like the works of Mr. Reed, so I confirmed the instrumentation of the work:

Flutes 1, 2
Oboes 1, 2
English horn (Again, I will be using it to introduce the first bars of the melody in the first A section to give it a melancholy feel)
E-flat clarinet
B-Flat clarinets 1, 2, 3
Alto clarinet
Bass clarinet
Contrabass clarinet
Bassoons 1, 2
Contrabassoon
Alto saxophones 1, 2
Tenor saxophone
Baritone saxophone
Horns 1, 2, 3, 4
B-flat trumpets 1, 2, 3
B-flat cornets 1, 2
Tenor trombones 1, 2, 3
Bass trombone
Baritone (Bass clef)
Tuba
String Bass

Again, I will be constructing the transcription when I’m a bit more richer.

I love the pipe organ, and to fuel my love for it, here’s my three cents on listening to one of Paul Manz’s biggest hits ever played on many organs, his Aria. It’s so fluent and haunting, in its lovely A minor glory. What’s more – it is intended for a wedding, and I believe this should serve as a change of pace from trite, overheard wedding classics such as Johann Pachelbel’s Kanon und Gigue in D-Dur für drei Violinen und Basso Continuo (the famed Canon in D) or even Benedetto Marcelo’s 19th Psalm. Because of its sometimes melancholy air, I think of it as one of the proposed pieces to be played at my funeral Mass if the church offers a prelude before each Mass.

I really love listening to the piece – I even want to create a concert band arrangement of it! Being influenced by it and Anne McGinty’s stunning arragement of the Air on the G String, I would transpose it a whole step lower (from the original A minor to the more feasible G minor, if you’re wondering) and I’d also make use of an English horn (That’s right – an English horn – and I intend this piece to be played by secondary education institutes and other bands who can at least afford to have an oboist double on that thing!) to initially play the top line of the original work (the melody line) of bars 5-13. I’d decrease the tempo a hair bit from the original to add to this flowing effect.

If I have the money and time, I’ll get myself the Sibelius software and put my band arrangement to work. I have college and other things to worry about in the here and now…