Keith W. Kinder. 2014. This Awareness of Beauty: The Orchestral and Wind Band Music of Healey Willan. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 221 pp. ISBN 978-1-55458-960-9 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-77112-127-9 (paper), ISBN 978-1-55458-962-3 (ebook)

Frederick Fennell, founder of the internationally acclaimed Eastman Wind Ensemble (EWE), is considered by many to be the catalyst for the modern wind-band movement, often credited with revolutionizing thought and practice within the discipline. While this perception remains valid, evidence suggests that Fennell was much less serious (or “high-brow”) than many believe. Derived from original research in the Fennell Archive at the Eastman School of Music, this article seeks to highlight tensions between Fennell’s desire to record serious wind-band music and the demands of Mercury Records (EWE record label, 1952–1964) to record populist repertoire. Fennell’s archival material suggests that his philosophy was directly influenced by Mercury’s bottom line with the objective of selling records to the masses. Surprisingly, this synthesized a dynamic approach to programming for Fennell and the EWE—one that remains a tradition to this day. The influence of recorded media’s populist objective fused an approach for Fennell that is much more “middle-brow” than many may have believed.

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Materials for Technology-Based Music Instruction

Theory and Practice of Technology-Based Music Instruction ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199795581.003.0007 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Jay Dorfman

Keyword(s):

Music Education ◽

Wind Band ◽

Traditional Music ◽

The United States ◽

Music Instruction ◽

Musical Meaning ◽

Dominant Form ◽

Music Selection ◽

Wind Band Music ◽

Proper Balance

Nearly all forms of education make use of materials to support student learning. In the case of traditional music education, the type of material that comes to mind most readily is composed music. Since the dominant form of music education in the United States is the traditional ensemble, composed music is a justifiable representation of what most teachers think of as musical material. In this chapter, we will look at a couple of examples of established criteria for selecting musical materials for various types of teaching scenarios. Then, we will imagine how those criteria might be applied to TBMI and address the crossover between the music we use in traditional music teaching and the music that might be used in technology-based music instruction. We will then examine the types of materials that are specifically related to technology (software and hardware) and sort through some processes for evaluating and selecting those materials. Though most teachers do not articulate any kind of formula for music selection, there are certainly criteria by which music can be chosen for the classroom. A well-known treatise on criteria for wind band music selection is a dissertation by Ostling (1978) in which the author spelled out several guidelines for selecting music with “serious artistic merit.” Among Ostling’s suggestions were the following: The composition has form—not “a form” but form—and reflects a proper balance between repetition and contrast. The composition reflects craftsmanship in orchestration, demonstrating a proper balance between transparent and tutti scoring, and also between solo and group colors. The composition is sufficiently unpredictable to preclude an immediate grasp of its musical meaning. The route through which the composition travels in initiating its musical tendencies and probable musical goals is not completely direct and obvious. The composition is consistent in quality throughout its length and in its various sections.

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Musical Characteristics of Farmers’ Band Music in Geumsan －Comparisons with the Music in Jinan－

Tongyang Ŭmak ◽

10.33452/amri.2013.35.125 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 35 ◽

pp. 125-138

Author(s):

Yong-Shik Lee ◽

Keyword(s):

Band Music ◽

Musical Characteristics

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Effects of baton usage on college musicians’ perceptions of ensemble performance

International Journal of Music Education ◽

10.1177/0255761416667465 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 333-342 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Brian A. Silvey ◽

Aaron T. Wacker ◽

Logan Felder

Keyword(s):

Concert Band ◽

Control Group ◽

Visual Condition ◽

Band Music ◽

Ensemble Performance ◽

Concert Band Music ◽

Eric Whitacre

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of baton usage on college musicians’ perceptions of ensemble performance. Two conductors were videotaped while conducting a 1-minute excerpt from either a technical ( Pathfinder of Panama, John Philip Sousa) or lyrical ( Seal Lullaby, Eric Whitacre) piece of concert band music. Each excerpt was conducted twice, once with and without a baton. After viewing each of the four videos, college musicians ( N = 119) rated the ensemble expressivity and ensemble precision of each performance. Technical excerpt performances were rated significantly higher when the conductor used the baton than we he did not. No baton effect was found for ratings assigned to the lyrical excerpt. A separate panel of evaluators ( N = 44, college musicians), who served as the control group, assigned ratings to the same excerpts, but was presented these excerpts in an audio-only format. Findings indicated that the use of the baton significantly affected these participants’ ratings of ensemble expressivity and ensemble precision for the technical excerpt, with higher ratings being assigned to those excerpts in which the conductor used a baton. Similar to our results in the audio-visual condition, no significant differences were found between participants’ ensemble expressivity or ensemble precision ratings when listening to the lyrical excerpt.

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