I don’t know if this is of any interest to anyone but me, but my concert band is working on both a Scottish and an Irish tune for their spring performances. It’s nice to hear these familiar tunes done in an entirely different way.
Granger’s arrangement of Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonny Doon, written in the 1930’s, is absolutely stunning. It plays in just over two minutes–simple and to the point. The harmonies are lush and sustained, giving the whole thing a very homesick feel. The flute/trumpet countermelody on the second verse is enough to bring tears to your eyes. The tune builds to a huge climax at the end of the second verse, before tapering off to a rich, quiet, serene sounding final chord. Absolutely beautiful. I hope that I will be able to teach my students to do justice to it.
Then there’s Anderson’s arrangement of “the Rakes of Mallow.” It starts on loud, obnoxious, comical sounding chords before slipping into the melody from a solo tenor sax. The tune goes through several variations, each a bit faster than the last, adding more instruments, rhythms, and countermelodies, until the final chorus is so fast and furious it’s hard to believe, with several different rhythms going on at once (all based on the original tune). Just about the time it seems that the whole thing is going to fall apart into a complete train wreck, everyone suddenly comes together and plays the last phrase of the tune in unison. The musicians (and the director) gasp for breath as the crowd (hopefully) goes wild.
What fun!
Then there’s the piece my Jr. High is playing, Aventura, which is almost like Avanutria. But that would be OT, I suppose.
Tom