Greetings All,
I just wanted to share some wonderful news with you. This past week I was recently appointed as the new Artistic Director and Conductor of the Orchid City Brass Band of South Florida. Not only am I excited to work with some fantastic individuals in the Palm Beach and Broward Counties, I am truly honored to share the stage while having musical conversations with a wonderful collective of musicians, music educators, and creative/artistic individuals!
As Artistic Director, one idea that we will be doing is utilizing a Brass Initiative to act as a model for brass players within the primary and secondary levels that showcases what can be done on their particular instrument. This addition will not only get them excited about what their instrument can actually do, but they would be able to see and hear an example of the aformentioned firsthand…and it’s in their backyard too. NO EXCUSES!!!
Now, don’t get me wrong or misconstrued my words…I think all variants of ensemble playing in those settings are imperative to help build and solidify technical facility, pedagogical savviness, and social community. But there’s something very magical that happens within a Brass Band setting that rarely, if ever, takes place outside of those occurrences. But that’s a story for another time!
There are a lot of wonderful things happening this season and I truly hope that you will be able to join us during one of our concerts! We have 5 shows coming up and let’s just say that “West will finally meet East.” Things are currently in the works to help build and musically transcend this ensemble to the next level and I can’t wait to fellowship with you all!
On and ever upward!
Here’s a little history about the ensemble…
“The mission of Orchid City Brass Band is to entertain and educate audiences and young musicians about the British Brass Band tradition through excellent musical experiences.”
History
In the summer of 2012, a group of professional brass players and percussionists gathered to form a British-style brass band. Taking the name “Orchid City Brass Band” in honor of West Palm Beach, this group is now the premier ensemble of its type in South Florida.
The tradition of British-style brass band music-making originated during the Industrial Revolution as entertainment for the working class, including miners and mill workers, primarily in northeast of England. It produced a vast and appealing repertoire of serious and popular musical works, along with traditions of contesting and community engagement that have since proved appealing to audiences and musicians worldwide. This music is now available to audiences in South Florida.
The instrumentation combines cornets, tenor and baritone horns, euphoniums, trombones, tubas and percussion to produce timbres that are unique to the British Brass Band tradition. Trumpets and French horns, standard in orchestras and concert bands, are not included. Today, British-style brass bands are located on every continent, in almost every country. Composers from around the globe continue to write and arrange music for this exquisite instrumentation and tradition.
The Orchid City Brass Band plays a wide variety of musical styles, in the tradition of British bands. Concerts feature everything from transcriptions of the classics, original works for brass band, and arrangements of popular songs, movie scores, jazz, and stage works.
Instrumentation
British Brass Bands are limited to specific instruments. The standard instrumentation (high to low) is:
- 1 Eb Soprano Cornet
- 9 Bb Cornets
- 1 Flugelhorn
- 3 Eb Tenor horn (sometimes referred to as alto horns in the United States and Germany)
- 2 Bb Baritone horns
- 2 Bb Tenor Trombones
- 1 Bass Trombone
- 2 Bb Euphonium
- 2 Eb Basses, also known as Eb Tubas
- 2 Bb Basses, also known as Bb Tubas
- 2 to 4 Percussion
Orchid City Brass Band
West Palm Beach Florida
Contact us at [email protected] or call us at 561-247-4078
Copyright © 2016 · All Rights Reserved · Orchid City Brass Band
Orchid City Brass Band is a 501(c)3 Not for profit corporation
