Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Your next program sounds like a lot of fun - I esp...

2010-06-14T10:49:21.944-07:00

Your next program sounds like a lot of fun - I especially like the Ives piece!

2010-03-03T08:03:08.763-08:00

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Dear Mr. Crompton, My name is Sasha, I'm a so...

2010-01-24T01:08:10.464-08:00

Dear Mr. Crompton,

My name is Sasha, I'm a son of Boris Pigovat. I'm very glad to hear that you liked his piece "Wind of Yemen" performed at WASBE conference.

There is another performance of this piece, by Tokio Kosei Wind Orchestra, available in my dad's web site: http://www.pigovat.com/symphonic-band-rec.html#windofyemen
You can hear it online.

You can also find recordings of his other pieces in the web site.

Hope that you will enjoy it.

Best Regards,
Sasha Pigovat.

Marc, I wish I could, but between work and school ...

2010-01-10T12:34:27.695-08:00

Marc, I wish I could, but between work and school there is no way I could make it out to Vancouver in February. You are too far away!!

One of these days I will make it out there though. I've been east - visited PEI, NS, NB and actually lived in Montreal for a few years, but never made it much farther west than Hamilton.

Do you guys ever tour? Come to Toronto :-)

Hello, Anonymous! You must be a member of the Van...

2010-01-10T11:43:51.286-08:00

Hello, Anonymous!

You must be a member of the Vancouver Saxophone Ensemble. I was unaware that the sopranino would be used. Very cool. Thanks for mentioning it.

Hi Lora, Yes, I've seen some great YouTube vi...

2010-01-10T11:42:12.655-08:00

Hi Lora,

Yes, I've seen some great YouTube vids of contra and sopranino. I was thinking that I might put them in a future post.

You, of course, will make the trip out to experience your first PSWE concert next month, correct? There's a minor little sporting event in town that you might be able to take in while you're here. I'd mention the name but I think that every word associated with it is in some way trademarked and involves a fee for use!

You forgot to mention the wee sopranino saxophone ...

2010-01-10T10:38:40.221-08:00

You forgot to mention the wee sopranino saxophone which will be seen and heard in performance on February 13th. A treat not to be missed!

Fascinating! I'd never heard of contrabass sax...

2010-01-09T23:22:47.295-08:00

Fascinating! I'd never heard of contrabass sax before and I was curious, so I did some searching - here's an interesting photo of the sax family http://www.edinformatics.com/inventions_inventors/288px-JayCEastonSaxFamily.jpg

There are also some videos on YouTube - what an interesting sound!!

"Just wanted to say I really enjoyed your con...

2009-11-17T23:22:19.671-08:00

"Just wanted to say I really enjoyed your concert of November 14th. I was reminded of how special some literature is for wind ensemble, the curious should not miss it’s encore performance in West Vancouver on the 21st. When I saw the program, I knew I had to hear it to believe it! You pulled it off, musically exciting and rewarding.
Cheers!"
Greg Passmore

Very approachable and enjoyable concert. I've...

2009-11-16T13:18:23.125-08:00

Very approachable and enjoyable concert. I've heard from audience members, who are not regular attendees, how much they enjoyed the repertoire and the performance. Special mention was made of the wonderful sound of the clarinet section. Looking forward to next Saturday!

It was great to see you in the audience, too! I k...

2009-11-15T12:56:07.591-08:00

It was great to see you in the audience, too! I know that it was a hell of a commute on a dark and rainy night. ;)

Wow! Great concert you guys....it was a very weird...

2009-11-15T09:29:11.258-08:00

Wow! Great concert you guys....it was a very weird experience to be sitting in the audience rather than on the stage, but at the same time I felt a huge surge of pride, as the last notes faded away, to be associated with such a talented bunch of musicians. Can't wait to come back and play with you!
Val

Thanks, Jon! Much appreciated.

2009-11-13T12:20:04.941-08:00

Thanks, Jon! Much appreciated.

We just did a post about the concert on theV3H.com...

2009-11-13T12:07:08.725-08:00

We just did a post about the concert on theV3H.com

http://www.thev3h.com/2009/11/craft-fairs-art-shows-and-movies-oh-my/

Have a great show!

Can't wait for the dessert course.....creme ca...

2009-11-09T22:07:54.129-08:00

Can't wait for the dessert course.....creme caramel and a nice smokey scotch........mmmmmmmm

Nice post, Marc. I'm hungry--gotta run...

2009-11-09T12:20:59.489-08:00

Nice post, Marc. I'm hungry--gotta run...

Ahhhh.........much better. A more fulfilled and e...

2009-08-30T12:37:55.169-07:00

Ahhhh.........much better. A more fulfilled and enlighted being I am now.

Thank's for reading (and proofing!) my post, A...

2009-08-29T12:05:48.991-07:00

Thank's for reading (and proofing!) my post, Anonymous. Had trouble with the formatting of the quote and obviously didn't bring my fiddling full circle!

Please tell us what the Oxford Dictionary goes on ...

2009-08-29T11:01:30.353-07:00

Please tell us what the Oxford Dictionary goes on to say. You left us all hanging in suspense!!

We're nearly half way to being able to get thi...

2009-08-23T15:53:28.081-07:00

We're nearly half way to being able to get this piece written! Any other takers????

This sounds like a superb idea, Marc. I've ad...

2009-08-20T05:57:48.919-07:00

This sounds like a superb idea, Marc.

I've added a link to your blog post on the BASBWE blog, along with some videos of Adam's Dances from Crete - courtesy of YouTube!

http://basbwe.wordpress.com

There would be no McDonald's if people didn...

2009-08-13T20:13:46.138-07:00

There would be no McDonald's if people didn't by Big Macs. The publishers are partly to blame but not solely. This is an extreme example, but didn't the courts find the cigarette companies at least partly at fault for the promotion of smoking. If we as directors and music educators don't buy the crap that some publishers market as great literature, then they will have to change what they produce or go under. Let's face it, no school music program has a bottomless budget. We don't need hundreds of new piece per year. What about promoting the great works already in the catalogue. Some publishers are already doing this.

I truly believe that the bulk of the crap is created by composers who produce a first published piece that has something interesting to offer. The publishers then put them on a contract for x number of new works per year, because their name is hot property. A new composer likes the recognition and doesn't want to screw things up, so they fall into recreating piece one. It is safe and it sells.

I had the pleasure of working with a composer who would likely fall squarely in the category of composer that we are talking about. He is brilliant transcriber, he arranges tunes and orchestrates them with superior craftsmanship. But, I can't say that he is a great composer in the sense that we will be playing his original works 100 years from now. He came to my school a number of years ago and, among other things, worked with my composition students. He brought out a string quartet that was absolutely brilliant. It is likely my favourite composition of his. It sounds nothing like anything I have ever heard him write for bands.

Why can't these composers be encouraged to take risks? Forget the business of writing. What about the art of creating wonderful music? Not every piece has to be a "hit."

One of my current favourite composers, Adam Gorb, I like precisely because he does take risks, and I hope that he never stops. He writes pieces for young band that Hal Leonard would likely never publish because they don't fit neatly into categories. He asks for odd instrument combinations. He makes the musicians count! I'm waiting to hear the piece of his that I truly can't stand. That will mean that he has taken another risk and what a wonderful thing to fail!

So, let's stop buying the crap, so the music stores stop promoting the crap and the publishers stop asking the composers to write the crap. Let the truly great composers write!!!! And lets encourage the composers to take the risks by commissioning them outside of the publishing business.

It seems to be a long-standing problem. In 1981 G...

2009-08-13T10:19:02.394-07:00

It seems to be a long-standing problem. In 1981 Gunther Schuller said "The diversity and richness of our American cultural heritage from its beginnings to the very present is second to none; so is our talent potential. Yet we allow the vast majority of Americans to grow up without any awareness of what is best in our culture; instead we sacrifice ourselves to the gods of commerce and let the stultify us into cultural an musical illiterates."

We still let the commercial interests have too much power - the fact that WASBE felt the need for "damage control" after Mr. Budiansky's talk is only one illustration of that.

Thanks Marc for the interesting article. I first r...

2009-08-13T08:27:39.230-07:00

Thanks Marc for the interesting article. I first ran across Mr. Budiansky's ideas a few years ago with his original NYT article about too many band pieces sounding like they were inspired by suburban housing developments; things like "Rockwood Overture" or "High Castle Gates" (I just made that up, apologies to the composer if those are actual pieces out there somewhere...)
I just checked his website and found his last WASBE update rather disturbing, especially the part where he states some publishers at the conference believed that he should not have been allowed to speak.

For me the truth is in his closing paragraph, the quote from Allen Britton:
"Should not our music curriculum consist, first of all, of the world's most beautiful music?"

My own prime directive is to try to expose my students to great art. Isn't that what education is supposed to be about; Scientists introducing us to great science? English teachers introducing us to great literature? But of course it takes more work to search out and find the really beautiful and great new works, The fine craftsmanship of your local artisan, or local composer is not usually available at Walmart, or Hal Leonard. Sad but true.

Don't blame the publishers, they are just creating product that they think there is a demand for. The prime directive of capitalism would indicate if there is no demand, then there is no product. So the real question might be why is there a demand for "rockwoodharvetmoonshire suite" or whatever the latest "Alfred Reed meets John Williams in a back alley" formula piece is called? Oh and yes of course, all the sixteenth notes and mixed rhythms will be simplified to make it easier to play.

Maybe the question is “Who is teaching music and where / how are music educators being educated?” The problem really begins in university MusEd programs and narrow specialist BMus programs that produce students geared to a specific skill set or even genre of music without first ensuring their students have a basic skill set across genres and styles. Universities have increasing become little silos with a large number of part-time adjunct instructors orbiting around a nucleus of just a few full time faculty more interested in pursuing their own research and areas of expertise than teaching freshmen pedagogy 101. Being a generalist has gone out of fashion.

To end on a happy note we now have programs like Finale and Sibelius in our toolbox. We can create our own resources if we feel the need, but quite often we don’t have the time. Yes, it takes more time and energy to find great art to teach, both old and new. But don't we as educators owe this much to the young musicians sitting in front of us?

He preaches well! As important as all the commiss...

2009-08-06T20:43:45.618-07:00

He preaches well! As important as all the commissions is the work he does to make sure the music reaches a wide audience. His website is great, and I've listened to some some fascinating recordings and bought a few books after reading about them there.