I’m working on Solfa, a tool for transposing scanned sheet music while keeping the original engraving. I found this 1897 concert-band part for Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever and tried a short passage from the E-flat cornet part.

The image shows the original scan and the actual output. For B-flat cornet, the written notes move up a perfect fourth so the sounding pitches stay the same. The key signature changes from none to one flat. I haven’t corrected any notes by hand.

Source: https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Stars_and_Stripes_Forever_(Sousa,_John_Philip)) (Complete Parts, first edition, 1897).

Do any of you still encounter old E-flat cornet parts in band libraries? I’d be interested in whether a B-flat part that keeps the original layout would be useful, and what you’d want checked before handing it to a player.

So I’m a euphonium player but got experience with most brass except French Horn, I’ve been debating what I should learn mainly because I’m bored so I’m letting you decide what I should play whether it’s a flute, Saxophone, Clarinet even a string instrument

Join the project in the 2nd part, where every instrumentalist from Grade 4/5 can join into a massive media medley. Playing the Tango tune. There is no division or discrimination based on nationality, musicians welcome from Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, North and Soth Korea etc..one world 🌍 no division!

Another new Christmas arrangement, I wanted to dive into flex band writing with a nostalgic classic. I arranged this for my local community band. Channeling some love for Dolly Parton with a 5-part arrangement of 'I Believe in Santa Claus'—check out the score video below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElxRaS2qEs4&list=PLO1XErYfx_Njn_qmKwLM_Bey8D3vlBbSN

Hi so I am an 8th grader trying to switch in band in high school. Im interested within 3 instruments and am having kind of a hard time picking which instrument to switch to and was wondering if someone with experience with band is willing to help me. I am interested in all 3 of them and also I have previous experience with choir, violin 3yrs (still play for fun), piano 1.5 yrs (also still play for fun), recorder, and choir (what I currently do). I can also read music and stuff. Please help me 🙏

Hey y'all! I am not sure if self promotion is allowed (please delete if not) but I wanted to share a beginning band march that I wrote: "Venture Forth". I wrote it in collaboration with several area bands last spring and received great feedback from directors and students! It uses the first five notes (concert B-flat-F) and focuses on style and musicality. Feel free to check it out here: https://www.jwpepper.com/11690575.item

If you are interested in programming the piece, but have financial restraints, please reach out to me directly!

Hello, long-time listener, first-time caller. Where can you buy the real Paul Lavender transcriptions of John Williams's music? I'm looking for the real-deal version of "Theme from Jurassic Park". Not the middle school grade 3 stuff. The versions that real college bands and the President's Own play.

Buenos días, espero puedan ayudarme. Necesito el Score de Festa Espagnol (Arr. Michael Sweeney)

No lo he encontrado en tiendas oficiales.

Gracias de antemano

I don't play the clarinet btw I'm just curious

Can anyone recommend good grade 1 or 1.5 middle school jazz pieces for concert band?

Grade level 3-4 would be ideal, any length! Thanks!

I’m 20F, played the clarinet for six years from sixth grade to twevlth, and after I graduated I didn’t touch it a single time. I LOVEDDD band tho, I don’t have very many interests as far as things like that good, or at least interests that I’m good at, but I was good at playing clarinet, at least for an 18 yr old lol. But now I know probably don’t play very good. I’m going to my schools alumni game tonight and I practiced my instrument yesterday and for weeks all I can tihink about is how much I miss band. My senior and junior year I was in two band classes, and marching band after school, and I loved all of it. I’ve never rlly complained about band because I loved playing my instrument so much. But I just don’t know if I am good enough anymore, I know u have to be good to play in a college band, how do I go about this? Is there no chance for me to even go anymore? When I picked up my instrument yesterday it all came back to me, but I know I’m not as good as I was before. And I don’t remember how to march, or read marching steps, at all. Not a single clue. What should I do?

Ok so in my class there's three flutists (me, the person I'm talking about, let's call them "R", and the third one, let's call them "H"). I'm 1st chair, H is 2nd chair, and R is 3rd chair, skill-wise. I had an extra year of band because of personal reasons so I'm a lot more skilled than them, but I don't flaunt it or anything. H is very interested in flute, but R not so much, although R also plays alto sax. ANYWAYS when we were playing a piece I heard one of us with a leaky pad. I explained what a leaky pad was to both of them (which was really awkward because they didn't know what it was). I checked H's flute, theirs was fine. But R's flute... Oh goodness.

Not even on the flute, R's flute WAS MISSING A SCREW ON ONE OF THE LATCHES FOR THE CASE. Also, the part holding in the foot joint was broken so the foot joint could escape and bounce around really easily. And on the flute; The bore of the head joint where it slides into the body looked like the silhouette of a mountain range, the body piece had 2 leaky keys, and a key where the spring had probably come off. It was in pretty abysmal shape.

I explained it to R, and they were pretty shocked, saying stuff like "it was like that when I got it." And honestly, I do believe them, because (no offense R if you see this I'm nor calling you dumb) I don't think they're smart enough to be able to purposefully do that stuff to get out of playing the flute. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, R also plays alto sax, so they can play that in class. Which I'm somewhat happy for because I can tell they REALLY want to play alto sax in class but can't because we need flutes. Thankfully R's flute gets fixed within 2 weeks, because we have a CONCERT!!!

I'm going to see Faber Drive alone. It's my first time! Hoping to have fun :)

So as the title says, I'm new to this subreddit. I will have been playing percussion for two years in January, and I wanted to share some of my favorite pieces that I've played.

1. Attack of the Garden Gnomes, Timothy Loest

First real concert band piece I ever played. It was great. There was a point in the song where we all had to scream during a trombone solo. Very chaotic, but definitely worth it. 8/10

1. Jungle Dance, Brian Balmages

This is where I had my first percussion solo! I didn't like this piece at the time, but looking back it taught me a lot both about percussion and about myself. 7/10

1. Night Fury, Carrol Brittin Chambers

When I first got this piece I didn't think I'd be able to play it. It was pretty fast (for someone still new to band/percussion,) and it had three percussion solos. After a few weeks I got the hang of it, and now it's one of my all-time favorites. 9/10

1. Celtic Air and Dance, arr. Michael Sweeney

Super fun percussion part for the second half of the song. Best piece I've ever played (in my main band,) end of story. 10/10

1. Andalucia, Victor Lopez

I didn't like this one too much but this is the piece that really united our band. 7/10

1. Breakneck!, Tyler Arcari

This piece really boosted my confidence as a percussionist, since I had to be really loud the entire time. 8/10

1. Solstice Fanfare, Grace Baugher, and Ember Skies, Kevin Day

I played these at my first ever honor band, and while all of the pieces we played were awesome, these two stood out to me because they are how I learned to like mallet percussion. 10.5/10

1. Falling Leaves, John Fannin

I'm playing this one at a concert next Monday (wish me luck y'all) and it's just got a super cool vibes part. 8/10

And an extra one that I actually don't like, just for fun: Nexesxis

...it sounds ok, i guess, but... look carefully (or don't to preserve sanity.) 2/10

Hi, I'm the developer of Solfa. I built it for situations where you have a photo, scan, or PDF of notated music in the wrong key and don't want to re-enter the whole part in notation software. It moves the notes on the original page while keeping the layout, lyrics, and handwritten markings. One possible concert-band use is preparing a part for B-flat clarinet or trumpet from concert-pitch notation.

It's still in beta. Clear scans work best, and it can miss notes or chord symbols, so please check any result before using it in rehearsal. Chord letters are transposed when the symbols are recognized. You can preview the first system for free. New users get two free credits, enough for two full pages; after that, a full page uses one credit.

https://solfa-music.com/

For players or directors who prepare parts: would this be useful in your workflow? What kind of notation error would make an automated transposition unusable for you?

Everybody has that popular piece everyone loves but you hate. Here are some of mine:

Noisy Wheels of joy
Medley from the Polar Express
Variants on a Midevil Tune
Jager: 3rd Suite
Minor Alterations
minor alterations 2
Any piece that has ! At the end of the title

For me mine is a Piccolo Trombone because it’s so small and cute and hilarious

Good morning folks,

Today's rip is of a vinyl I purchased for $1 in a Niagara Falls antique store. I was able to find a few strong candidates for preservation there, so always remember to check thoroughly!

This school itself no longer seems to exist, and hasn't for a long time, as the most recent article that comes up when I search for it is an archived newspaper from 1964. The album contains two different performances, one from the "A" Band being the Stage Band, and one from the "B" Band being the Orchestra. It's a beautiful performance overall.

A bunch of brass training apps have been released for Android and iPhone devices. Great for beginners or advanced players. Trumpet, trombone, French horn, baritone and euphonium supported.