At 6:54 PM +1000 4/18/10, Matthew Hindson (gmail) wrote:
Dear listers,
Something different: I'm racking my brains to give my 1st year
beginner music theory students a public domain orchestra piece that
is a good demonstration of the different instrument families of the
orchestra and introductory score reading.
My first thought was perhaps Jupiter from The Planets, or maybe
something from The Nutcracker, but are there any other suggestions?
Why public domain, if you don't mind my asking? Benjamin Britten's
"Young Person's Guide" was designed for exactly that!
But you can find good material in a lot of Tchaikovsky. The
"pizzicato ostinato" movement of one of his symphonies (sorry, but I
can't remember which one) is a beautiful example of contrasting the
plucked strings, woodwinds, and brass sections, each with its own
very fitting themes and motives.
And of course his 5/4 waltz movement from another symphony is a
masterpiece of non-standard meter, alternating 3+2 with 2+3
throughout, that was unequalled until Brubeck's "Take 5"!
I'm not at all sure that "The Planets" would be my first choice, but
we're presently preparing both "Mars" and "Jupiter" in concert band
transcriptions, so that's the sound that's in my ears.
And you might check with the people at W.W. Norton publishers. They
have a CD (or maybe DVD) with excellent excerpts of individual
instruments, although I'm not sure about sections, and if nothing
else you might be able to get a listing of the excerpts they chose.
All the best,
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:john.how...@vt.edu)
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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