The saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to produce a sound wave inside the instrument's body. The pitch is controlled by opening and closing holes in the body to change the effective length of the tube. The holes are closed by leather pads attached to keys operated by the player. Saxophones are made in various sizes and are almost always treated as transposing instruments. A person who plays the saxophone is called a saxophonist or saxist.
The sarrusophones are a family of metal double reed conical bore woodwind instruments patented and first manufactured by French instrument maker Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. Gautrot named the sarrusophone after French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876), whom he credited with the concept of the instrument, though it is not clear whether Sarrus benefited financially. The instruments were intended for military bands, to serve as replacements for oboes and bassoons which at the time lacked the carrying power required for outdoor marching music. Although originally designed as double-reed instruments, single-reed mouthpieces were later developed for use with the larger bass and contrabass sarrusophones.
The bass oboe or baritone oboe is a double reed instrument in the woodwind family. It is essentially twice the size of a regular (soprano) oboe so it sounds an octave lower; it has a deep, full tone somewhat akin to that of its higher-pitched cousin, the English horn. The bass oboe is notated in the treble clef, sounding one octave lower than written. Its lowest sounding note is B2 (in scientific pitch notation), one octave and a semitone below middle C, although an extension with an additional key may be inserted between the lower joint and bell of the instrument in order to produce a low B♭2. The instrument's bocal or crook first curves away from and then toward the player (unlike the bocal/crook of the English horn and oboe d'amore), looking rather like a flattened metal question mark; another crook design resembles the shape of a bass clarinet neckpiece. The bass oboe uses its own double reed, similar to but larger than that of the English horn.
English Folk Song Suite is one of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' most famous works. It was first published for the military band as Folk Song Suite and its premiere was given at Kneller Hall on 4 July 1923, conducted by Lt Hector Adkins. The piece was then arranged for full orchestra in 1924 by Vaughan Williams' student Gordon Jacob and published as English Folk Song Suite. The piece was later arranged for British-style brass band in 1956 by Frank Wright and published as English Folk Songs Suite. All three versions were published by Boosey & Hawkes; note the use of three different titles for the three different versions. The suite uses the melodies of nine English folk songs, six of which were drawn from the collection made by Vaughan Williams' friend and colleague Cecil Sharp.
Walter Sinclair Hartley was an American composer of contemporary classical music.
The contrabass sarrusophone is the deepest of the family of sarrusophones, built in three sizes pitched in E♭, C or B♭. It was made in the 19th and early 20th centuries, primarily in France by its inventor and Parisian instrument maker Pierre-Louis Gautrot and his successor Couesnon & Co., and Evette & Schaeffer. It was also made in Italy by Milan manufacturers Romeo Orsi and Rampone & Cazzani, and in the United States by C. G. Conn, who built instruments in E♭ for US military bands. Romeo Orsi and the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim make individual contrabass sarrusophones on request.
Music for Prague 1968 is a programmatic work written by Czech-born composer Karel Husa for symphonic band and later transcribed for full orchestra, written shortly after the Soviet Union crushed the Prague Spring reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Karel Husa was sitting on the dock at his cottage in America at the time, listening to the BBC broadcast of the events on the radio. He was deeply moved, and wrote Music for Prague 1968 to memorialize the events. This piece is a standard among wind ensemble repertoire.
The First Suite in E♭ for Military Band, Op. 28, No. 1 is written by the English composer Gustav Holst. It is considered one of the cornerstone masterworks in the concert band repertoire. Officially premiered in 1920 at the Royal Military School of Music, the manuscript was originally completed in 1909. Along with the subsequent Second Suite in F for Military Band, written in 1911 and premiered in 1922, the First Suite convinced many other prominent composers that serious music could be written specifically for band.
The Second Suite in F for Military Band is Gustav Holst's second of his two suites for concert band. Although performed less frequently than the First Suite in E♭, it is still a staple of the band repertoire. The Second Suite, written in 1911 and first published in 1922, dedicated to James Causley Windram, is longer and considered more difficult to play than its sister suite.
Lincolnshire Posy is a musical composition by Percy Grainger for concert band commissioned in 1937 by the American Bandmasters Association. Considered by John Bird, the author of Grainger's biography, to be his masterpiece, the 16-minute-long work has six movements, each adapted from folk songs that Grainger had collected on a 1905–1906 trip to Lincolnshire, England. In a similar fashion to these folk songs, many of the movements are in strophic form. The work debuted with three movements on March 7, 1937 performed by the Milwaukee Symphonic Band, a group composed of members from bands including the Blatz Brewery and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer factory worker bands in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Symphony in B-flat for Band was written by the German composer Paul Hindemith in 1951. It was premiered on April 5 of that year by the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" with the composer conducting.
The Concerto for Trombone and Military Band by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was written in 1877. The concerto consists of three movements: an Allegro Vivace first movement, an Andante Cantabile second movement, and an Allegro-Allegretto third movement in the style of a march. The second and third movements conclude with cadenzas. A full performance of the piece lasts roughly ten minutes.
October is a contemporary piece for concert band approximately six minutes in duration that was written by Eric Whitacre in 2000.
Colonial Song is a musical composition written by Australian composer Percy Grainger. Although Grainger created versions for different types of musical ensembles, its most commonly used version today is for concert band.
The Year of the Dragon is a musical composition by Philip Sparke originally written for the internationally acclaimed and awarded Cory Band's Centenary Celebrations held at St. David's Hall in Cardiff in March 1984. The composition has since made a regular appearance worldwide as a test piece for brass band competitions.
Composed in 1957, Symphonic Songs for Band is one of Robert Russell Bennett's most famous compositions for wind band. The work was commissioned for the National Intercollegiate Band by Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, national honorary band fraternity and sorority, as part of the two organizations' commissioning program. Since its premiere, it has become among the most frequently performed works in the wind band repertoire. It is considered to be a cornerstone of the band literature.
The woodwind section, which consists of woodwind instruments, is one of the main sections of an orchestra or concert band. Woodwind sections contain instruments given Hornbostel-Sachs classifications of 421 and 422, but exclude 423
Ralph Leopold was an American pianist and piano teacher.
Symphony No. 4, "A Vitória" is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1919. A recording conducted by the composer lasts just over thirty minutes.
