Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts Symphonic Band DIRECTOR BRAD HOGARTH GRAND SERENADE FOR AN AWFUL LOT OF WINDS AND PERCUSSION (1992) P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742??) Sunday October 5th, 2014
My friend Hannah and I are lucky enough to be playing the piccolo solo but we can't stop laughing! The conductor says that we will practice it until it isn't funny and then we will know it is ready but we have played it for a year and it is still funny....
Peter Schickele is brilliant. These kids were lucky their band leader had the guts to program one of his comic works (which are NOT easy to play, no matter how silly they might sound to someone who doesn't have to play all those 'wrong' notes at the right time). 'Professor' Schickele is best known as the comic genius behind 'PDQ Bach' ('the twenty-first of Bach's 20 children'), whom he 'discovered' while doing 'music-illogical' research work at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. But for those who don't know, he is also the composer of numerous serious Hollywood film scores. Keep up the good work, Peter!
I got to play this under Schickele’s baton once. He took the final movement about twice as fast as this. And then for an encore he had us play the whole movement again, in double time.
Had a blast playing this in college - tuba section loved it! We were playing for an open house at the beginning of the semester and being ignored by the people milling around so the conductor had us play the Simply Grand Minuet. Loved the looks from the people!
I suggest using the old reed that is chipped, split , reed clipper clipped, and half broken , down in the bottom of your instrument case. Simply open the ligature and place it on your instrument, (dry) and I promise you will hit notes you never thought were even there! (Good luck!!) ;-)
I saw it performed by Furman Orchestra in '78. We went on a "tour" of towns and cities in South Carolina; I was along as a pianist with the Jazz Ensemble. I also played Vibraphone(badly) on a piece by Alan Hovhaness.
Dr Beckford(?) conducted part of the performance.In addition to playing in Furman Jazz Ensemble, I also played an occasional pick-up job with his Sons. Dan Ellis was a great guy; he helped me with some problems financing my last year at Furman. I also played the summer '78 Miss South Carolina pageant, thanks to him. I really enjoyed my music experiences at FU
Bravo! Brava! Huzzah! Truly a performance that brings tears to the eyes (and plugs to the ears!) - What can one say musicologicalologically speaking of course.... No one had the complete mastery of the triple forte like herr PDQ...... It should be noted of course that herr PDQ had complete mastery of of "recycling through time" Drawing upon musical references from the 1700's to the 20th century! Who but but PDQ? I ask you! And to expand furtyher, who but PDQ wrote for single reeds, double reeds and brass sans "the rest of the instrument". Who needs the entire horn or clarinet, oboe, bassoon or trumpet, when just the mouthpiece works so well!! Moving on to his use of percussion, PDQ who knew the resiliency of the tympani strike! How it knows not of PPP, PP, or even P - when Triple or quadruple forte works SO WELL! In conclusion many think it was the twentieth century quadtet that called themselves "Spinal Tap" that first went to 11 - O they were late comers, the mastery of FFF or FFFF came from the pen and somewhat wine soaked page of -- PDQ Bach.... where it had the notation (translated from the German) " Play this REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY (FFFF) LOUD so it covers up the yodeling of Franz who is drunk down in the beer garden!!! Thank you PDQ, my heart soars and my ears ache....
Percussionist here. I've spent a lot of time with a baton directing the band every once in a while when the director is away. I'm a freshman though so the directors don't fully know about me and my skill level. Today we had a senior flutist direct while the director was out, very inexperienced (keep in mind they are not in the freshman concert band so don't know about this piece). God bless his soul, I was in the back losing it on the floor laughing while this kid tried to fix the clarinet solos at the beginning. Trumpets almost rioted.
I played oboe for this many years ago with the Boulder Concert Band (Colorado). Of course it was fun to play *only* Double Reeds in the Simply Grand Minuet. This is truly for an AWFUL lot of winds and percussion! 😅
Good embouchure helps a lot. Also, focus on putting a lot of pressure air into the clarinet. I think having a high toughness reed helps too. I use 4 1/2 so the note is pretty easy for me to hit.
@@LouisE-mp8lx I'm a vocalist and Schickele definitely writes out of the ranges of singers. An example from the Seasonings. The link starts on a run by the bass soloist. No bass could sing those notes. XD ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1H4L1eTfM3w.html
my band is doing this to and we have 4 different parts not 3. if you are wondering which one they do not have its romance in the grand manner which is right before rondo mucho grando which i guess is fine sense this whole peace is happy and funny and romance in the grand manner is more slow and i guess sophisticated.
Low-key salty AF that flutes don't get a funny part in all of this (My band is playing this and I actually hate how the flutes don't have anything) Good piece nonetheless
@@InceyWincey The percussionist at the end definitely seems to be getting into the humor, trying to hide his grin at times. "This is why we can't have nice things"!
