Don’t call 911 yet, THE FIRE STILL BURNS…

The pieces have been saved from our band rooms, but there are plenty of you out there who didn’t realize MY BAND ROOM IS ON FIRE! There is still time to make a save, as the fire is still burning. Join in on the conversation and save a piece of music (just no more than seven). As you can tell by the list below, a lot of friends and colleagues made some tough (but great) choices in an effort to preserve our music. Hats off to Holst, Alfred Reed, and Frank Ticheli who were the composers mentioned the most often. First Suite in Eb and The Pines of Rome were also a favorite in terms of singular pieces. I find it very rewarding to find some of the hidden gems in the literature listed below (Nelson’s Courtly Airs and Dances, Carter’s Overture for Winds, Reed’s Rushmore). Since writing this post, I have discovered several more pieces that I probably could not live without (Selections from the “Danseyre” arranged by Patrick Dunnigan and Ticheli’s Symphony No. 2). As far as noticeable exceptions – The Stars and Stripes Forever (I guess we all just figured we could buy a new edition by Brion and Schissel), 2^nd Suite for Military Band in F (No love for their second masterpiece by Holst), and Festive Overture (Shostakovich can really get the juices flowing) really come to mind quickly for not making the first list. Looking at notable composers left off the list – the absence of writers like Mark Camphouse, James Curnow, and James Barnes are very surprising to me. Timothy Mahr, Samuel Hazo, and David Gillingham definitely deserve to be saved at some point – it would be interesting to see where the those gentlemen would end up if this list was done five years from now and songs like Endurance, Ride!, and Galactic Empires get more exposure. So in no particular order, here is what was saved when MY BAND ROOM IS ON FIRE!…

First Suite in E-flat – Holst
Greensleeves – arr. Alfred Reed
Flourish for Glorious John – Vaughan Williams
The Pines of Rome – Ottorino Respighi
I Am – Andrew Boysen Jr.
O Magnum Mysterium – Lauridsen/arr. Reynolds
The Liberty Bell – John Philip Sousa
Lincolnshire Posy – Percy Grainger
Washington Post March- John P. Sousa
Dedicatory Overture- Clifton Williams
Allegro Animato- Frank Erickson
March to the Scaffold- Hector Berlioz (arr. Leidzen)
Shenandoah- Frank Ticheli
Incidental Suite- Clarke
Sleigh Ride-Leroy Anderson
Jupiter- Holst
Concerto For Orchestra-Bartók
Syphonic Metaporphosis- Paul Hindemith
Adagio for Strings- Barber
Irish Tune from County Derry – Grainger
Dusk – Whitacre
Blue Shades – Ticheli
Chester – Schumann
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves – Horner (arr. ?)
American Overture for Band Jenkins, Joseph W.
Russian Christmas Music – Alfred Reed
American Salute – Gould, Morton
March from 1941 – John WIlliams
Of Sailors and Whales – McBeth
Amazing Grace – Ticheli,
Loch Lomond – Ticheli
America the Beautiful – Carmen Dragon
Daphnis and Chloe – Ravel
Manhattan Beach March – Sousa
Variations on a Korean Folksong – Chance
Hands Across the Sea – Sousa
March of the Belgian Paratroopers – Leemans
Flourish for Wind Band – V. Williams
Overture for Winds – Charles Carter
Salvation is Created – Tschesnokov
Canterbury Chorale – Van der Roost
An American Elegy – Ticheli
Courtly Airs and Dances – Nelson
La Fiesta Mexicana – H. Owen Reed
Rushmore-Alfred Reed
Canzona-Peter Mennin
Abram’s Pursuit-David Holsinger
Pagent-Vincent Persichetti
American Patrol-FW Meachum (concert band, not jazz)
Shiny Stockings-Frank Foster (jazz band)
Switch In Time-Sammy Nestico (jazz band)
Symphony No. 1 – Lord of the Rings – de Meij
Gran Partita- Mozart
A Child’s Garden of Dreams – Maslanka
Armenian Dances – Reed

My sincere thanks and appreciation to Joe Pisano at Mustech.net who helped get this post out there and generate a significant amount of attention to it.  If you have not been keeping up with Joe – the man has been more than a little busy lately.  Get on over to the Music Educator Blogger campaign and you will have a little understanding why.  He has really opened so many doors and avenues for all of us and started a lot of people talking about music education in a productive matter.  While you are there, do some searching and buy the man a cup of coffee!!!

For the rest of you courageous directors who decided to risk your life in this little exercise, a humble thanks for joining in this conversation. If you haven’t decided to save anything yet, head back into the band room and make some choices (chances are the fire hasn’t got down burning up that alto clarinet yet, and besides we all know it will take twice as long to go burn through a bassoon). List the seven pieces you would save and contribute to a great resource list!