I actually play E flat Bass in the Motor City Youth Brass Band, and our adult band played this for this year's NABBA. It was a wonderful rendition of the piece.
my band and i are playing this for our assessment along with Alladale(2nd movement), it is quite a beast of an arrangement but it is so amazing. so glad i play trumpet for this:D
Best movement of the piece. Sitting in front of the bass Trombone player wasn't so fun though. We played it in symphonic band. Thankfully my eardrums were blown by the lead alto playing the initial solo on bagpipes 😂
Last reply, I promise! =) So talking in all concert pitch, the opening is in Db and the 12/8 section is in F minor but 3:53 is definitely in f# minor. The solo/soprano cornets are all on F#'s and the low brass are playing the melody where F# is definitely the tonic, so B would be the minor third. 5:34 is Gb major, and everybody is unison on that run except for the trombones who hold the Gb and it ends on a unison Gb, not a triad.
Bass bone is just designed to lay out the ensemble with raw power when the composer/arranger wants it. They put us on a handicap by having only one of us in any and all ensemble settings.
The only reason I wrote it that way is because in a British style brass band like YBS, all of the instruments except percussion, bass trombone and a few tenor trombone parts are written in treble clef, Soprano and tenor horn read Eb treble clef and everybody else reads in Bb treble clef (mostly to avoid an insane amount of ledger lines.)
Can we at least get the title correct. It's Hymn OF the Highlands. It's even shown on the video itself correctly. If someone is googling or searching youtube for it they won't find it.
The opening is in Db? Second section in 12/8 is in F minor? The G# natural minor section you speak of is in B minor. The ending is on a big F# major chord. So pretty much completely different to what you said.
(continued) If you pedalled a F# in the tubas or the bass register, it'd sound all weird, as the leap from a 4th creates quite a dissonance. Whereas if you pedalled a B, it'd create the perfect 5th and thus complete the chord melody (Like the next quite section where B is pedalled in the lower instruments before it modulates to C and then F)
There you go! That seems a little more correct! Although, the repeated triple tongued pattern on F# (Concert) is the 5th of the chord, so wouldn't be in B? As for B being the minor third...that would make the section in Ab minor?
Okay, I see what you're saying and I should've thought some things through a little more. I've played this piece five times and most recently when I wrote that last comment, I actually had the solo cornet part in front of me so all of the keys I wrote down are not in concert pitch they're in Bb (I'm going to have to go into a second comment box)
The beginning to 1:53 is in Eb Major; 1:53-3:52 is in or centers around g natural minor, 3:53-4:05 temporarily changes to g# nautral minor, 3:54-4:44 is in G/D major, 4:45-5:30 is in C Major, 5:30 to the end is centered around Ab but ends in Ab Major for the last few bars. Sorry, there's absolutely no way you can put this piece into one key =)
The root of this tonality is definitely b. The five tones that are represented here are e, f#, g#, a, & b. There is no G # in b (natural) minor and there is one in this melody. As it was stated earlier, based on the five notes represented, it is clearly outlining b dorian. The g# is the determining factor. As Matthew correctly pointed out, the solos are playing f#; however, the basses are playing b. Play it again & hum a low b at that point & it will become clearer. Lachlan is the winner!
