Wanted: Full brass score for Ode to Joy

[G-horns]

Ah....thanks....I'm not a choir guy, so I didn't recognize the abbreviation.

Anyway...it's done and sent...fortunately I didn't have to change the key after putting the parts into G....only 1 flat (Bb) and there are no 3rd valve notes at all...kinda skinny on parts, but it's there.

No, not really skinny. Conservative. I hate it when someone asks for six parts and there are only six players. One person can't make the gig and the piece falls apart.

[84BDsop]

No, not really skinny. Conservative. I hate it when someone asks for six parts and there are only six players. One person can't make the gig and the piece falls apart.

True....but you have to write for what you have. If all he's got is 2 sop, 2 mell, 2 bari, and 1 contra, there's only so much you can do with the original work...a good barbershopper could make it work, but that's not a form I'm familiar with.

If he gets a few more horns I;ll be happy to add some parts back in.

[G-horns]

True....but you have to write for what you have.....

Exactly.

[TAFL]

No, not really skinny. Conservative. I hate it when someone asks for six parts and there are only six players. One person can't make the gig and the piece falls apart.

You can minimize the loss if you plan for it.

We're now using a standard scoring approach of seven parts (much the same mix as that in this thread, only with mellos in place of flugels). The upper six parts are harmonically complete, so if the contra part isn't covered, we've still got all we need. In our parade tunes, the melody is always covered in two parts, so one of those isn't necessary--we can play any tune with five players. As we can almost always count on having two baritones, I concentrate the heart of the tune in the bari parts, 1st mello, and 1st soprano; we can play much of our book with just four players, though it will sound thin in places and can require a bit of bouncing parts around for a section of a tune.

When numbers are a major concern, you adjust for it. Yeah, I'd rather be able to count on 48 horns. I have to plan for six to ten, though, so I adjust.

[G-horns]

You can minimize the loss if you plan for it.

We're now using a standard scoring approach of seven parts (much the same mix as that in this thread, only with mellos in place of flugels). The upper six parts are harmonically complete, so if the contra part isn't covered, we've still got all we need. In our parade tunes, the melody is always covered in two parts, so one of those isn't necessary--we can play any tune with five players. As we can almost always count on having two baritones, I concentrate the heart of the tune in the bari parts, 1st mello, and 1st soprano; we can play much of our book with just four players, though it will sound thin in places and can require a bit of bouncing parts around for a section of a tune.

When numbers are a major concern, you adjust for it. Yeah, I'd rather be able to count on 48 horns. I have to plan for six to ten, though, so I adjust.

Believe me, I've written for some small lines and really appreciate what arrangers go through to make it work. I've also played in some small lines back in the days of G-D and early G-F. One season we had a full bari/contra line in April. By June we had only one bari and no contras. Hy Dreitzer looked over the charts and said "play 'em as written", and we did. Other corps were amazed at the sound we got out of 3 sop parts, 1 mello part, 1 or 2 frenchie parts and that lone 1st bari. Part of the secret back then was we were using a Strobotuner while others weren't. But the major advantage was Hy. Everyone raves about his writing for big lines but he could write for just about anything. I learned a tremendous amount from him.

[TAFL]

Heh. We played a gig today with just four horns: two baris, one mello, one soprano. With minor juggling, we adjusted and sounded solid.

[will92]

I would just like to thank you all for your help on this especially to Sam and Craig.

Thanks, this means a lot, if i can repay the favour, just say the word.

Will.