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Originally Posted by ProAm I wonder about the American school band program these days. New music written for band (eg, Holsinger) seems to have pretty much replaced the old orchestral transcriptions. Has that affected kids being exposed to classical music? |
What a brilliant point!
I absolutely believe that it does. My wife recently conducted a conference orchestra made up of all the little "stars" of a certain school district. I looked at the program and there was not, in the band portion, one single transciption! It was the transcriptions of great music that spurred my interest in classical music just as was the arrangements of fiddle solos and opera melodies that Mendez played that spurred my interest even further! Look at the British brass repertoire: New music and transcriptions.
I think you've hit onto something very real, ProAm. Great music well arranged for band and taught to kids by great teachers would do, I think, a lot to keep kids motivated and playing.
ML