The British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles
Becoming a member of BASBWE couldn’t be easier. Annual membership rates are detailed below, and you can now join online using our secure credit card facilities (PayPal) via the main BASBWE website.
SPECIAL OFFER: join BASBWE now, and get 16 months for the price of 12! This means that your single membership payment will cover the rest of 2009 and the whole of 2010 – receive six copies of Winds for the price of four! Read the rest of this entry »
BASBWE has been instrumental in commissioning an impressive list of works for the medium both through its own efforts and through advice to, and encouragement of others. More than 80 have been published since 1983.
Through the efforts of BASBWE many leading British composers have been persuaded to write, and then continue to write, for the medium. Equally the programmes of our regional and national conferences demonstrate a total commitment to the writing and performance of new music.
The profile of the movement and of its music is ever on the increase. Many of the leading Conservatoires now boast wind bands or wind ensembles, often deemed amongst the best in the country, whilst more and more groups, young and old are appearing at major concert venues including the Proms, South Bank, Bridgewater Hall and Symphony Hall. Our journal WINDS is a regular champion of music and events together with increasing exposure in other media, including BBC Radio 2, Radio 3 and Classic FM. It is evident also that the influence of BASBWE is felt strongly throughout the country, both through its membership and publications and through its extensive series of workshops, festivals, conferences and concerts.
From the main BASBWE website:
One of BASBWE’s most fundamental activities is to support the creation of new music. Somewhere, somehow, at some point in the early 20th Century. composers and professional musicians lost contact with the concert-going public and “contemporary music” lost its literal meaning – music of its time – and acquired connotations of difficulty, inapproachability, and an inability to connect with audiences.
It is BASBWE’s belief that repairing this link is fundamental to the continued development and success of both our medium, and that of “classical music” in general, in the 21st Century.
Since 1981 BASBWE has commissioned, either individually or in consortia, over 50 works. The College Commission Consortium, founded in 1994 and administered by the BASBWE Education Trust, has contributed a further 19 works.
Don’t forget to tune in for what promises to be a fascinating late night prom tomorrow evening, Friday 28th August, at 10.15pm on Radio 3.
The superb Netherlands Wind Ensemble presents an interesting and challenging programme of contemporary wind music:
The Netherlands Wind Ensemble, 50 this year, marks the 70th birthday of radical Dutch Minimalist Louis Andriessen and the 50th of his leading British pupil Steve Martland with performances of Andriessen’s classic polemic De staat and Martland’s jazz-rock ‘dance fantasia’ Beat the Retreat, commissioned by the BBC for its 1995 Purcell tercentenary celebrations.
Another former pupil of Andriessen, Cornelis de Bondt creates an idiosyncratic death ritual in Doors Closed out of a fusion between the funeral march from Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ and Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Two of tonight’s works call for two or more pianos, in a nod to our Multiple Pianos celebration.
Also, please do add your support to the discussions regarding wind music at the Proms on the BBC Radio 3 messageboards, and who knows, maybe one year there will be a Wind Day at the Proms…well, they have had Brass Day, Folk Day, Multiple Pianos Day, Indian Music Day…
For fans of the BBC’s new MaestroCam service, you can now watch Daniel Barenboim in action with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra:
All four MaestroCam broadcasts will continue to be made available (to UK viewers only) until the end of the Proms season.
Following my earlier post regarding some of the amazing music apps that are now available for the iPhone, I received today an email from the developers of iBone. I would urge any trombonists (or aspiring trombonists!) reading this to take a look, and let us know your thoughts… Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a fantastic post about Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, by Fred Kaplan. The recording, which is the best-selling jazz album of all time, was released 50 years ago this month.
[...]Kind of Blue is a one-shot deal, so dreamily perfect you can hardly believe someone created it. Which is why it remains so deeply satisfying, on whatever level you experience it, as moody background music or as the center of your existence. Listen to it 100 times or so, and you still marvel at its spontaneous inventions; now and then, you’ll even hear something new.
There are also some fantastic clips on YouTube that have been released to mark the anniversary:
Enjoy!
Following on from my earlier post regarding the Dallas Wind Symphony, there are some interesting clips on YouTube from the latest DWS recording sessions for their new CD of the music of Percy Grainger.
BASBWE trade members, Maecenas Music, has recently launched an impressive new website – http://www.maecenasmusic.co.uk. You can view a PDF score extract and listen to recordings of most of their published works.
Here are some recent highlights from their extensive catalogue:
Stephen McNeff Image in Stone for Mezzo Soprano and Wind Ensemble
Piano Reduction by the composer
Philip Wilby A Passion for Our Times for Narrator, Mixed Chorus, Youth Choir, BRASS BAND and Organ
Set of parts and score, POA
Emily Howard (recipient – Paul Hamlyn Foundation composers Award 2008) Deep Soul Diving for Wind Orchestra
Set of parts and score
Davor Bobic Pictures from Zagorje for Symphonic Wind Orchestra
Adam Gorb Downtown Blues for Trombone and Wind Ensemble
William Sweeney Lost Mountain for Concert Band
Bill Connor The Sound of Welcome for Chamber Winds, Cello and Bass
Malcolm Binney Master Humphrey’s Clock for Wind Orchestra
Fergal Carroll Tipperary Rhapsody for Concert Band
Christopher Coleman Jazz Funeral for Wind Band
Bill Connor Sun Low Over Water for Wind Orchestra
Martin Ellerby Natalis Symphony for Winds and Percussion
Martin Ellerby Prelude for Hampstead Heath for Wind Orchestra
Adam Gorb Farewell for Wind Ensemble
Terence Greaves Werneth Suite for Concert Band
News from the Dallas Wind Symphony:
The Dallas Wind Symphony would like to announce the winners of the 2009-2010 Brass Fanfares Competition. Presented by the Star Community Newspapers, performances begin this September at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas.
This year, 96 fanfares were submitted from all over the United States, United Kingdom, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Australia, Brazil and the Czech Republic. Thanks to everyone who submitted their music and hearty congratulations to those selected. Please look for our 2010-2011 Call for Fanfares in the spring and encourage your composer friends and colleagues to submit their music.
Fanfare Antiphonal Vox Gabrieli by Jim Colonna, Eau Claire, WI
Foozle by Hermes Camacho, Austin, TX
Fanfare Royale by Kevin L. Gibbs, Minnetonka, MN
Water Fanfare by Joseph Spaniola, Pensacola, FL
Heroic Fanfare by Scott M. Copeland, Ann Arbor, MI
Pavillons en l air by J. M. David, Fort Collins, CO
Fanfare to Hells Angels by Kevin Scott, Middletown, NY
One of the most popular features of the Apple iPhone is definitely the App Store, and there are are a growing number of music apps becoming available. Some of the first ones that I noticed were produced by Smule, and included a virtual ocarina and the intriguingly-titled leaf trombone. Whilst neither of these was particularly useful, they were extremely impressive in their use of the iPhone’s touch screen and even the built-in microphone as breath controller.
More recently, I have discovered several other apps that might be of interest. The first was iBone – a trombone simulation that allows you to control the slide position and harmonic via the touch screen, and (optionally) the volume by using your breath on the microphone. Read the rest of this entry »
Just received from BASBWE Trade members, Studio Music:
STUDIO MUSIC OPEN WEEKEND
5th September 2009 (9am to 5pm)
6th September 2009 (10am to 4pm)
Complimentary taxi service from Station & Airport – contact us for details
COME AND BROWSE . . .
WIND BAND
JAZZ ENSEMBLE
FULL and STRING ORCHESTRA
FLEXIBLE ENSEMBLE
BRASS BAND
PIANO ADVENTURES
Over 10,000 titles in stock!
Please let us know if you plan to attend. If you have any particular repertoire requirements, do contact us in advance and we will be happy to reserve these for your perusal.
Can’t come to our Open Weekend? – log onto our website for all the latest publications! Updated daily.
Cadence House, Eaton Green Road, Luton, Beds. LU2 9LD England
Tel: 01582 432139 Fax: 01582 731989
e-mail: sales@studio-music.co.uk
