Posted by Klaus on May 05, 2001 at 00:33:15:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Contra-Octave in band playing posted by Sean Chisham on May 04, 2001 at 21:46:49:
This is a very true posting.
When not being the conductor, I have been a recidivist improvisator over the years. Aware of it to a point, where I stopped practising parts, because criminal things happened as soon as I felt secure about playing them.
You might even refer to my posting about Quantz in the Philly Christmas repertoire thread below.
But:
Studying Bach chorale settings tells one, that at least Baroque bass line thinking incorporates a contrabass line one octave below. Maybe even a sub contrabass line 2 octaves below.
For many years I hated the brass band bass line sound. Believing the BBb basses to be the culprits. I was wrong. The problem was not the contrabass line, but the use of Eb tubas on the proper bass line. Where only euphs and bass bone sound well.
When I played my B&H 981 in a 2 Eb + 1 BBb setup, I took it an octave down much of the time. Getting no protests.
But when one deviates from the written line, one must never deviate from the spirit, that created that line.
Putting final chord fundamentals an octave down might work well quite often. But to be a more effective active octave dropper one has to constantly analyse and interprete the basslines as what they also are: melody lines. And one should never drop even one single note, if one endangers that bass melody.
To make proper judgement of that one needs some knowledge of styles.
I might mention one sample of "written out" bad dropping practise:
A very common brass band arrangement of the "Hungarian March" by Berlioz has a very logical and true contrabass line written out in the BBb tuba part. However, the Eb tuba part is a nightmare study in badly placed jumps between bass and contrabass lines.
One rule even more important in octave droppings: Be in tune (as one always should be disregarding instrument or part)! That way droppings might lead to new band tutti heights of expressivity.
Klaus