Symphony Tacoma Brass Quintet and Wade Rackley Arrangements

[Mark]

https://youtu.be/ZBNI7MbhZ44

[bloke]

Is that Leroy Anderson reduction new?

I don't remember it, and it's great.

[Dubby]

Sounds great!

[the elephant]

How cool to hear this! And the trombonist and I shared a house with another guy my last year at North Texas. I have never heard the Christmas Festival arrangement performed. None of our players like the original tune so they did not want to work it up; besides, I was insisting on using the optional timpani/percussion part and our sometimes drummer did not want to have to lug his set *and* two timps and a set of orchestra bells, so I HAVE NEVER PLAYED THIS ARRANGEMENT.

Thanks so much for the share, sir! This was an enormously big Christmas present for me this year.

[the elephant]

Is that Leroy Anderson reduction new?

I don't remember it, and it's great.

I did that one in 2003, and thank you very much.

However, it is a real blow and I got feedback from people who openly wished I would transpose it to the band arrangement key. (This one is in the original key from the orchestra work.) It also uses piccolo in A and some do not like that, and (the big one) it really *needs* the optional-but-important percussion/timpani part.

I have added a lot to this book. You want a new copy of everything to try in the future (since this season is pretty much garbage)? There are 26 tunes. Some are readable. Some are like this one and will require a rehearsal or two. I am particularly pleased with Santa Baby, Feliz Navidad, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I am less pleased with the easier ones, but you have to make them playable or they don't get played.

[Casca Grossa]

Damn Wade...is there anything you can't do? Nice arrangements.

[the elephant]

Damn Wade...is there anything you can't do? Nice arrangements.

[matt g]

@the elephant, fantastic arrangements and congratulations on them being played well for the public.

A wonderful contribution to the repertoire as well as our sanity. :-)

[the elephant]

Thanks, guys!

[Three Valves]

Saved to play list...

[Paul Evans]

Thanks for the great arrangements, Wade! We had one rehearsal and a little under 2 hours to record this and they managed to find enough good material for it to sound pretty good. Your arrangements are great. Besides the Christmas Festival, we also played your arrangements of Sleigh Ride and Carol of the Bells. Thanks for some great resources!

[bloke]

Is that Leroy Anderson reduction new?

I don't remember it, and it's great.

I did that one in 2003, and thank you very much.

However, it is a real blow and I got feedback from people who openly wished I would transpose it to the band arrangement key. (This one is in the original key from the orchestra work.) It also uses piccolo in A and some do not like that, and (the big one) it really *needs* the optional-but-important percussion/timpani part.

I have added a lot to this book. You want a new copy of everything to try in the future (since this season is pretty much garbage)? There are 26 tunes. Some are readable. Some are like this one and will require a rehearsal or two. I am particularly pleased with Santa Baby, Feliz Navidad, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I am less pleased with the easier ones, but you have to make them playable or they don't get played.

I believe I'd ignore or "politely acknowledge" those comments (about individual/selected arrangements which require a bit more expertise to execute well, than do some of the others).
The best compositions and arrangements are written for players who can play, and not for those who can almost play, and/or who moan at those who write things which they can't - or only can almost - play.

white text sidebar:
It is interesting, though, that it is a bit easier to play Stars and Stripes Forever (and other things...) in their "orchestra keys" on C and F tubas, and in their "band keys" on B-flat and E-flat tubas. The piccolo-flute obbligato in the trio (Stars and Stripes Forever) is remarkably quicker for flautists to master (placing the part in G major) when playing the (obsolete) D-flat piccolo part with an (obsolete) D-flat piccolo.

[the elephant]

Thanks for the great arrangements, Wade! We had one rehearsal and a little under 2 hours to record this and they managed to find enough good material for it to sound pretty good. Your arrangements are great. Besides the Christmas Festival, we also played your arrangements of Sleigh Ride and Carol of the Bells. Thanks for some great resources!

Thank you, Paul! Tell Keith I said hey if you get the chance!

[the elephant]

Joe, I totally agree.
I just prefer the sound of this piece in this "set" of keys. Also, the orchestration is more transparent, too, using strings. (Not that that has anything to do at all with my arrangement, which would be the same "density" in either the orchestra or band key structure. It is just more fun for me to work from the orchestra score as it offers up more small groupings of voices to give me ideas; band music can be so monochromatic.) The band arrangement he did later (after cutting out several minutes of material in the middle) is solid Leroy Anderson material, but it always feels muddier to me. Regarding negative comments, one of the two hornists in one of the two quintets I play in has this need to tell me how she would have done things differently. When I suggest that she try her hand at arranging something, even to "correct" one of my tunes, she demurs and implies that "performers" do not have time to waste arranging music. They are busy performing. She likes to say things (about note-for-note-transcriptions that contain everything in the original) "Do you feel like there is something missing between rehearsal D through F?" or some such BS. When I tell her that this was how Jerry Gray wrote it and it sold a million copies she just shrugs and says something like, "Well, okay, then. I was just trying to help your arrangement sound better. I hate that woman.






*****

[Mark]

Thanks so much for the share, sir! This was an enormously big Christmas present for me this year.

You are very welcome. I've played a few gigs with Keith and I didn't know he was at UNT. It's a small world.

The arrangements are very nice and there were very well played.

[Heavy_Metal]

Is that Leroy Anderson reduction new?

I don't remember it, and it's great.

I did that one in 2003, and thank you very much.

However, it is a real blow and I got feedback from people who openly wished I would transpose it to the band arrangement key. (This one is in the original key from the orchestra work.) It also uses piccolo in A and some do not like that, and (the big one) it really *needs* the optional-but-important percussion/timpani part.

I have added a lot to this book. You want a new copy of everything to try in the future (since this season is pretty much garbage)? There are 26 tunes. Some are readable. Some are like this one and will require a rehearsal or two. I am particularly pleased with Santa Baby, Feliz Navidad, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I am less pleased with the easier ones, but you have to make them playable or they don't get played.

So, where can one buy "the book"?

[the elephant]

I have been giving it away for free every year since about 2004. Of course, the first year there were only about four arrangements, and every year I go through the entire set after my quintets play them, to make any changes I felt were needed, so I post *all* of them again, every year, hoping that anyone who has used them in the past will download and print the newest versions so that the older "embarrassing" versions slowly disappear over time.

That hasn't worked out all that well.

I am not handing them out this year, however, as I am (very slowly) going through them again. I will make the full set available generally sometime this spring or summer.

I post links here when I have them uploaded to Dropbox. I have skipped a few years due to jerks taking free copies and then not adhering to my wishes about sharing. Sharing is a huge no-no. These are to be downloaded from me directly, only. Since I have had major copyright headaches in the past due to these appearing on free music download sites in Russia and the versions that have made it out there in the wild are early versions that I don't want people to play now I have been more reserved in how I share them. I decided to not share them at all this year since it was largely a wash for most people. I was just offering the set to Joe because he only has a few of the earlier ones. I wanted him to see what else I have done. It probably should have been in a message. Sorry.

[ken herrick]

The time spent watching/listening was a great relief from what has been "normal" for too long.
DAMNED FINE STUFF

[the elephant]

Here are the timestamps for my three arrangements…
2:25 - A Christmas Festival
20:48 - Carol of the Bells
42:48 - Sleigh Ride

[groovlow]

Merry Christmas Mr Elephant!!!
You're a generous gift to the forum in many ways!
Happy New Year too!
Joe H