Good Band scores to study?

Hey, I'm working on scoring a Wind Philharmonic piece for a reading next semester, and I was wondering some good scores to study. I have Blue Shads by Ticheli, and Jim Barnes' Third Symphony. I might get a few more Ticheli scores, and maybe Lincolshire Posey. But what other pieces would you guess suggest?

There really aren't that many well written "band" pieces, so I would suggest looking at works for orchestral winds written by composers that are generally considered "orchestral" composers.

One good set to look at that are neither are Joseph Schwantner's works for wind ensemble and piano. And the mountains rising nowhere, In Evening's Stillness, and From A Dark Millenium. If you can get a hold of those scores, please do it. Ticheli's 2nd Symphony is VERY good, especially the second movement. I also personally like some of Clifton Williams' writing in Fanfare and Allegro, and Symphonic Dance No. 3. Very well written pieces of "lower difficulty".

And also, not "maybe Lincolnshire Posy", DEFINITELY get it, that is some of the best orchestrating you're going to find in most any band piece of that era.

One thing you might want to look at is the Sinfonietta by Ingolf Dahl. The scoring and construction of the piece is very clear and fresh, and it's definitely not a typical "band" work, at least for most of the piece.

Hey,

I would suggest Psalm for Band by Vincent Persichetti which was, obviously, written just for winds. We just played this for UIL and it was such an emotional piece. Don't let the name fool you, this is a great piece of writting.

Also, take a look at Divertimento for Winds and Percussion by Roger Cichy. Although this piece was originally composed for orchestra, it was beautifully arranged for band and to tell you the truth I like this piece more than Psalm for Band but I think Psalm has more of the style that you are looking for given your description above.

Well good luck to you and I hope you get the chance to take a look at one of these pieces... believe me you wont regret it!

Gustav Holst has a few good Wind Symphony pieces. Suite in E flat and F are really good.

Ok. First of all, there are many good band pieces, they're just hidden under masses of crappy middle school arrangements and dumbed-down lameo pieces made for making money for publishers. Here's a good list to follow. Generally, anything on this list will be good: List of concert band literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That said, these are the scores I recomend:

John Barnes Chance: Incantation and Dance

Percy Grainger:

Irish Tune from County Derry, Lincolnshire Posy, Shepherd's Hey, The "Gumsuckers" March

Gustav Holst: First Suite in E-flat, Second Suite in F, Hammersmith

Robert Jager: Esprit De Corps

Joseph Wilcox Jenkins: American Overture for Band

Peter Mennin: Canzona

Darius Milhaud: Suite Francaise

Vaclav Nelhybel: Trittico, Festivo

Ron Nelson: Rocky Point Holiday

Alfred Reed: Armenian Dances (Parts I+II), Russian Christmas Music

William Schuman: George Washington Bridge, New England Triptych

Fisher Tull: Sketches on a Tudor Psalm

Clifton Williams: Symphonic Dances, Fanfare and Allegro

Ralph Vaughan Williams: English Folk Song Suite, Toccata Marziale

Good luck!

Good list! I think I've played just about everything on it.

Be warned that Reed does the ultra-thick dumbed-down "double every freakin' musical line" in a lot of his works, though. Not saying he's bad or anything, but there are pieces where he's brilliant, and pieces where you can tell he needed rent or food money one month...

Yeah, I'd have to say that Reed has very boring orchestration.

Good list! I think I've played just about everything on it.

Be warned that Reed does the ultra-thick dumbed-down "double every freakin' musical line" in a lot of his works, though. Not saying he's bad or anything, but there are pieces where he's brilliant, and pieces where you can tell he needed rent or food money one month...

Lol. Very true!

Don't forget Children's March by Grainger; wonderful variation writing that explores the color's of the wind symphony.

Honestly, 90% of wind band music is pretty awful. Most of the composers who write for it are mediocre, bands play with terrible intonation, and composers don't compensate for that in their orchestration and create some of the worst orchestration I've ever seen/heard. Basically, if you're going to write for band you better write something good. And some Grainger march does NOT qualify as good.

And some Grainger march does NOT qualify as good.

Very substantial evidence you have backing up that claim.

bands play with terrible intonation

Strings cover up their terrible intonation with vibrato.

By ClassicalSax:

Strings cover up their terrible intonation with vibrato.

Right on! I have a recording of Luther College playing Brahms that I can't listen to for more than 90 seconds. Granted, the strings are on the correct pitch for brief moments in their out-of-tune vibrato, but...