Wind Band

Welcome to The Concert Band

This web site is dedicated to college and secondary school concert and wind bands. It contains information about the various instruments employed, as well as hints about band training (including technique and intonation), conducting, the physical laws the govern sound production, and anything else I think the young musicians who play in these bands might find helpful. Some sections (such as the one on interpretation) are more for band directors than players, of course, but overall I have tried to include something of interest to just about everyone.

There is also a large section devoted to the activities of the Brass Band Jenderal (BBJ), a Salvation Army band based in Medan, Indonesia. If you are interested in this Band, click here.

Some of the information on this website has been extracted from my book entitled The Band Director's Handbook: A guide for College and Secondary School Band Directors in Southeast Asia. The book also includes additional chapters on pedagogy and the varying characteristics of different wind band instruments that are not included in this website. It also has a chapter devoted to writing arrangements and transcriptions for wind band. To order a copy of my book, see the publication details below.

: Administrator; Wind Band; 14 January 2012; Hits: 5648

The Festival

Here is another free march for concert band. The following is the first page of the score:

As with all other compositions on this site, the music is released into the public domain for noncommercial use. It can be freely copied and performed provided the music remains unchanged and the composer is duly acknowledged.

You can download the music here. There are two files - and parts.

The Festival Conductor Scores

and

The Festival Parts

: Administrator; Wind Band; 22 July 2011; Hits: 7193

Sinfonietta

This rather unusual piece written by Kedarnath Awati may prove to be a challenge for many bands. The composer describes it as a "melange of Indo-European musical dialects".

Here is the first page of the conductor's score:

The conductor's score can be downloaded here. icon Sinfonietta (797.91 kB).

The conductor's score and parts can be downloaded here icon Sinfonietta - all parts (4.22 MB)

GO TOP

: Wind Band; 24 April 2010; Hits: 27149

Introduction

Unpublished

Woodwind instruments do not have as much in common with each other as brass instruments do. In fact, there is so much design variation that it is even difficult to come up with an acceptable definition of what woodwind instruments actually are. Virtually every common denominator has an important exception. As a result, it is not easy to make generalizations about such matters as embouchure formation, intonation problems or technical difficulties that are relevant for all woodwind instruments. Fortunately, there are some natural subcategories (single versus double reed instruments, for example) around which the bulk of the discussion can be organized. At this level at least, common characteristics can be more easily identified and potential problems addressed.

This, then, is the approach I have taken here. As in the case of the section on brass fundamentals, the emphasis is on basic principles and design issues, and how these affect the way woodwind players actually make music.

: Bruce Gale; Wind Band; 24 April 2010; Hits: 14759

Wind Band Scores

This section contains music written for concert or wind band, by which is meant a performing ensemble comprising the usual members of the woodwind and brass instrument families, together with various percussion instruments.

All scores have been released into the public domain for non-commercial use. They can be freely printed and photocopied provided the music remains unchanged and the composer is duly acknowledged. Commercial use, including the sale of sheet music or professional recordings, is prohibited without the permission of the composer.

Composers who accept these conditions are invited to submit works to us for possible inclusion on this website. Please submit your music in PDF form, and include an MP3 recording for evaluation.

Visitors are welcome to take a look at anything they find interesting. However, only registered members can download the scores. The same is true of all recordings (mostly mp3 files) throughout the site, including those available in the focus section.

You can register as a member from the home page.