Colours - Music-Web Forums

Boneman · #1 31-12-2006, 11:45 AM

Here is a piece I wrote for a trumpet quartet, still waiting for the commisssion! What do you guys think?

Whataguy! · #2 08-01-2007, 05:23 AM

The fanfare beginning was great, Boneman. At first, I had problems with the staggered note endings at bar 14, but now, I kind of like them. I also liked the harmon mute sections. The trumpets would really have to watch their pitches going from harmon mutes to open because the tendency is to play sharp during muted passages and go flat when going back to playing open. At bar 184 you've got the 4th part playing a pedal C going down to a pedal Bb. This is another section that the 4th trumpet would really have to watch out for because after all that extended playing, the pedal register may not come out fully. In any event, that register on the trumpet is not that easy because you really have to relax, and during a performance, that may not be possible. All in all, you're going to have to get some accomplished players with a lot of rehearsal time to play this one to its fullest. A great piece to listen to. Thank heavens I don't have to perform it. Good job, Boneman.

Thorolf · #3 08-01-2007, 07:41 AM

Cool!

Very thoroughly composed!

I suggest your trombone background betrays you when it comes to the use of pedal notes, tho…

Pedals are easy on the ’bone, so are they on trumpet, but with a twist: If you underblow the c', you easily get the Bb one ninth below!, but the c the octave below can only be acheived by professionals at a very high level of performance, and it has to be prepared with resting on beforehand, as Whataguy! suggested. c=extremely difficult, Bb=easy. I can imagine two possible solutions: Play the c' loco, and the Bb pedal. Alternatively, you might try it on the Flügelhorn: It just might be easier on that one (I haven’t tried!)

That aside, a good, thorough piece. A horn quartet would love to play it, tho. Notated one major third down, and hey presto, you got a lovely horn quartet, making the 1. horn play no higher than bb'' at the top parts. Not too difficult, and yet sonorious and powerful. All notes will be there, including the pedals, and you would have a “this is actually possible on horns!” piece.

Btw, nice looking quartet on the .pdf!

You wrote it for them? Inspiring…

Regards

Boneman · #4 08-01-2007, 08:17 PM

Thanks for the comments. They told me about the pedal but I thought what the hell, work at it! I will have a go at doing it for horns when I am out of my present situation and have some time.

Thorolf · #5 08-01-2007, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by Boneman

They told me about the pedal but I thought what the hell, work at it!

You should try it yourself… (I did! Many times! I can’t get anything sonorious out of pedal c! It may be possible, but it doesn’t sound so well either… so I’d say it’s not paying off, even if you can flog them to do it

) Pedal Bb, on the other hand: Easy, and sounds well! Can’t be explained: Try for yourself!

Regards

Boneman · #6 08-01-2007, 09:33 PM

If Arturo Sandoval can get it................!

Ballaw de Quincewold · #7 09-01-2007, 01:21 AM

Awesome piece! I can't really make any suggestions because I don't know a thing about brass writing. Very good work though.

Whataguy! · #8 09-01-2007, 07:55 AM

Yeah, Boneman, and Arturo can double tongue double C and above or mouth a pithy obscenity at his horn and come in on a double C cold, but the rest of us mortals playing like that up there? It's a possibility, albeit a slim one. I love Arturo, but I tend to write for trumpet players (if ever and in any range) with more normal abilities; otherwise I might get lynched. You're right, though, pieces such as Colours do give us mortals something to aspire to.

Incidentally, most trumpet players who work on the pedal register are going to first have a very flat pedal C, sometimes by a tone and a half, that will tune up in time. Claude Gordon explains this in his books. That may explain the sonorous pedal Bb, Thorolf.

So far, the best example of the pedal register I've heard is on Malcolm McNab's CD, Exquisite, where, in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, he played a double C and went down by octaves to the triple pedal register. But he didn't play it at p like how you've got it written in Colours. He did it at mf-f. That may be something to think about.

Boneman · #9 21-01-2007, 11:00 AM

So glad for all your tips about one note in the piece! Glad it has caused some debate.

Boneman · #10 21-01-2007, 11:04 AM

What if I dropped those few bars down a tone?Would that make you happy!