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Originally Posted by mark935 Second can sometimes play almost as loud as the lead or 1st music but the third and forth are felt more than heard.
I play so softly on the forth part; I barely hear myself.
This doesn't apply to tutti sections but still, nobody plays over the first part.
And you're right, it ain't all that much fun at times.
All you do is wait for a solo and hope that it, the solo, makes the hours of playing harmonic intervals all worthwhile.
That's my take. |
That's what I was afraid of, its not the writing, its the style. Listening to older big bands I notice that each section is much more balanced than in modern bands. I guess people who don't write music dont realize that those inner parts are actually very important and need to be heard. The way it is now, each trumpet plays one dynamic level below the lead, so if the lead is ff, the 2nd is f, the 3rd is mf, and the 4th is mp. Then below that the first trombone is f, 2nd trombone mf, 3rd mp, and bass trombone fff (haha). In reality, the lead trumpet should be ff and the entire rest of the brass section should be f.
I just experimented with dynamics using midi to play back a big band chart of mine. Normally I set all the instruments to the same volume except for lead trumpet one dynamic higher (instruments are samples I recorded myself). So this time I set each instrument in a section one dynamic softer than the one before it with the lead trumpet one dynamic above the lead trombone. Sure enough, I got the thin, modern big band tone. The lead trumpet really stuck out and sounded metallic whereas it sounded big and fat (as midi trumpet gets) with the section set louder.
So how did this start? Was it the superposition of a loud california lead trumpet on top of a softer NY style section ala Faddis in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band? Was it an influence of the blaring lead trumpet and inaudible section in the Boss Brass? Was it the preponderance of high school bands where the first player was always better and louder than the bottom chairs?
I think anyone who has heard the Bach Sterling Demo with Davis, Hall, Hey, and Grant has heard what a big band trumpet section should sound like. The opening of Pat Williams' album "Sinatraland" has a similar awesome demonstration of trumpet section sound.
-Eric Bamberg