Arranging For The Concert Band

Arranging for the Concert Band and the separately available workbook are intended to introduce students to basic techniques of arranging for the concert band. Arranging can be divided into two separate processes. The first deals with scoring and transcribing. Scoring is concerned with such things as voicing, doubling, balance and color. The term scoring also means the actual writing of notes on the score paper. Transcribing is scoring music written for one kind of musical instrument or group -- say a piano or orchestra -- for a different kind of group. This text deals with those matters. The second part of arranging is the more creative process of writing introductions, modulations, endings, background figures and so on.

Arranging for the Concert Band and the separately available workbook are intended to introduce students to basic techniques of arranging for the concert band. Arranging can be divided into two separate processes. The first deals with scoring and transcribing. Scoring is concerned with such things as voicing, doubling, balance and color. The term scoring also means the actual writing of notes on the score paper. Transcribing is scoring music written for one kind of musical instrument or group -- say a piano or orchestra -- for a different kind of group. This text deals with those matters. The second part of arranging is the more creative process of writing introductions, modulations, endings, background figures and so on.

Each composer addresses the following topics: Biographical information, The creative process ... how a composer works, Orchestration, Views from the composer to the conductor, Commissioning new works, The teaching of composition, Influential individuals, Ten works all band conductors at all levels should study, Ten composers whose music speaks in especially meaningful ways, The future of the wind band, Other facets of everyday life, Comprehensive list of works for band.

Orchestrating is a highly complex technique and to many, even those with academic training, a mystery fraught with a labyrinth of hazards. What is required, along with innate talent and general musicality, is the practical "know how." This is hard to achieve without actual professional experience and contact with "live" orchestras. To this end, John Cacavas contributes his extensive experience and ability with a practical approach to the practical problems of orchestrating. It is in this context most orchestrators must function, and to whom this book should be of benefit. The author has been a "musical activist" in all the varied aspects of instrumental combination from the "classical" to the "contemporary," and in the diverse application of his skills in all the media that utilize music and "orchestrations."

User-friendly book takes the reader step-by-step through the process of writing effective marching arrangements.

In Arranging Gershwin, author Ryan Bañagale approaches George Gershwin's iconic piece Rhapsody in Blue not as a composition but as an arrangement -- a status it has in many ways held since its inception in 1924, yet one unconsidered until now. Shifting emphasis away from the notion of the Rhapsody as a static work by a single composer, Bañagale posits a broad vision of the piece that acknowledges the efforts of a variety of collaborators who shaped the Rhapsody as we know it today. Arranging Gershwin sheds new light on familiar musicians such as Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington, introduces lesser-known figures such as Ferde Grofé and Larry Adler, and remaps the terrain of this emblematic piece of American music. At the same time, it expands on existing approaches to the study of arrangements -- an emerging and insightful realm of American music studies -- as well as challenges existing and entrenched definitions of composer and composition. Based on a host of newly discovered manuscripts, the book significantly alters existing historical and cultural conceptions of the Rhapsody. With additional forays into visual media, including the commercial advertising of United Airlines and Woody Allen's Manhattan, it moreover exemplifies how arrangements have contributed not only to the iconicity of Gershwin and Rhapsody in Blue, but also to music-making in America -- its people, their pursuits, and their processes.