About the HBBB
Notes from Gil Cline on the Humboldt Bay Brass BandFrom the final concert program, Fall 2018: The Humboldt Bay Brass Band (HBBB) has been a research project within the brass ensemble program of the HSU Music Department, and was formed in 2004 after a sabbatical trip by Dr. Gil Cline to England to visit museums and instrument collections, brass makers, brass bands, and the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. Since then, HBBB explored the British Brass Band repertory, music in brass history back to antiquity, premiered many of our own compositions and arrangements, recorded a full-length audio CD, formed brass quintets from within the band, and participated in a brass band festival in Seattle - in total, exploring centuries of historic music. Proper "brass bands" have a standard instrumentation of 25 brass players and 3 (to 5) percussionists, for competitive purposes in the U.K., and for standardized published music - of which there is a LOT in print! Forsaking woodwinds, all the brass parts, even tubas (basses!), are in treble clef so that as with saxophone, players may switch instruments and read with the same fingerings. The light, facile conical cornet rules here. As with orchestra or band, the topmost parts are handled by multiple players, five counting First & Soprano cornets. Second & Third cornets provide the body of upper harmony. Horns include the three Tenors but also two Baritones AND the Flugelhorn, & Repiano - up to SEVEN for the low alto and middle tenor range. Euphonium is a "power" instrument, also responsible for many solos. Trombones are the only "cylindrical bore" brass in the band and provide zing and zest. Basses are often divided into octaves and are capable of basso resonance like that of pipe organ. Percussion these days cover a plethora of contemporary sounds. Spring 2005 The very first time we assembled a brass band at HSU was in 1977, my first semester teaching here. On a sabbatical leave and while traveling in England in the fall of 2002, I had the great luck to play one evening with a brass band (the Ratby Collective Band) in a small town in central England, and to then attend the Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, held at Royal Albert Hall in London. (While brass bands exist in the U.S., they are far and few between.) "Pageantry" by Howells, played in spring 2005, is one of only two works we had for brass band in the HSU music library until the Humboldt Bay Brass Band was formed. Having a classic order of three movements (fast - slow - fast) "Pageantry" was written in 1934, but has harmonic language much more contemporary than one might think, often involving four or five different pitches in chords; in jazz these would be termed "seven" and "nine" chords. There also are a number of tricky meter changes -- it's not “danceable.” [It is included on the HBBB CD, "Pageantry of Brass"] This work was selected as the test piece for the national championships of 1937, in which -- then, and now -- each competing band plays the same work. The audience, and the judges -- who are enclosed in a visually screened fabric box, sides and top -- hear the same piece all day long, so one gets to hear the subtle contrasts between bands, and of course the judges are not influenced by what, or who, they see. The HBBB's first formation, Spring 2004:Humboldt Bay Brass Band (HBBB) exists as an educational project. With uncertain budget, there is no guarantee of future HSU sponsorship. Members and leaders, always have to right to consider the continuation of HBBS. In the meantime, the Humboldt Bay Brass Band is already a rewarding experience, and HSU's first since 1977. 1.) HBBB is organized, directed,
and conducted by Dr.
Gil Cline. Contact for information: Professor
Gilbert Cline |
