Brass, Reeds, and Percussion on WLRH Public Radio

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Brass, Reeds, and Percussion on WLRH Public Radio Brass, Reeds, and Percussion is a radio show about wind-band music. John Hightower produces the sho Airs at 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Brass, Reeds, and Percussion (BRP)—as the name suggests—is a program about music for the wind band (as opposed to the orchestra). The program features music composed for the instruments of the typical American high school band or the typical American military band. Music With Few Strings Attached

The program is not restricted by style of music (popular vs. art) or period of music (classical vs. 2

0th century). Essentially, there is only one “restriction” to the music heard: It won’t feature strings (violins, violas, cellos, and most keyboard instruments). Instead, the program is a showcase for such brass instruments as trumpets, cornets, horns, trombones, euphoniums, and tubas; such woodwind instruments as piccolos, flutes, clarinets, oboes, saxophones, and bassoons; and such percussion instruments as snare drums, bass drums, cymbals, gongs, glockenspiels, xylophones, marimbas, and timpani. Occasionally, even this restriction is lifted because of the history of wind bands and the ultimate instrumentation typically found in certain styles of music. Types of Instruments and Types of Ensembles

The program may feature music played on Renaissance wind instruments. In many cases, these instruments are the predecessors of current wind-band instruments:

Shawm (predecessor of the modern oboe). Sackbut (predecessor of the modern trombone). Chalumeau (predecessor of the clarinet). Dulcian (predecessor of the bassoon). BRP may also feature music composed for the modern wind symphony. In this case, the name “wind symphony” implies that a wider variety of instruments than the usual band may include, including a wide variety of exotic percussion instruments and such rarer wind instruments as the English horn, contrabassoon, or Wagner tuba. Other groups of instruments featured on the show include brass quintets, brass bands, woodwind quintets, jazz bands, and Dixieland bands. For example, “big band” music is wind-band music. Musical Styles

From the approximate period 1775 to 1825, the military band had a typical instrumentation of two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns. This is known as a harmonie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonie). Fortunately, much music from this period has now been recorded so that there is a huge repertoire of recorded wind-band music from the classical period. BRP is especially excited to be able to expose its loyal audience to this genre of wind-band music. Of course, the golden age of the American wind band was from approximately 1860 to 1920, the period during which John Philip Sousa composed the “Washington Post.” Although most frequently associated with the wind band, the march is not the only form of wind-band music. Nevertheless, nearly everyone loves a stirring march; so the program features at least one or two marches in almost every edition. A peculiar aspect of band music is the transcription, which is an arrangement of an orchestral work for the wind band. During the golden age of wind bands, string instruments were more expensive and string teachers weren’t common. So in this period with no radio, television, movies, phonographs, or Internet, it was far easier and cheaper for a group of local citizens to form a wind band to entertain their fellow citizens than to form an orchestra. These wind bands often played the popular melodies of the day, which often came from orchestral compositions (especially operas). Indeed, the wind-band literature is a museum for obscure late 19th century opera composers. And wind bands have often—and still do— provide school children (and perhaps the public at large) with their greatest and sometimes only exposure to major “orchestral” works. For example, before roughly 1910, four-hand piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s and Mozart’s symphonies were the way in which most of the American population heard these major orchestra works. Likewise, during this same period, most people first heard opera overtures in the form of wind-band transcriptions. As we begin the 21st century, the wind band has been discovered as a more accessible ensemble for modern composers. Modern composers of so-called art music will often write music for the wind band because there are still more bands than orchestras. Their musical compositions for wind band are therefore more likely to actually be performed and heard by the public. More information about the history of the wind band: http://www.lipscomb.edu/windbandhistory/

25/10/2025
25/10/2025
12/10/2025

Remembrance Day is now only one month away.

Every year since 1919 Australians have stopped on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, for two minutes of silence to remember the fallen.

The first Remembrance Day was known as Armistice Day, named for the armistice that ended fighting in the First World War on 11 November 1918.

Australia, a nation less than twenty years old, with a population of less than 5 million people, had lost more than 60,000 young men, with over 150,000 wounded. Many of those injuries, both mental and physical, were for life.

Prime Minister Billy Hughes said in 1919 "Our heritage, our free institutions of government - all that we hold dear - are handed back into our keeping, stained with the blood of sacrifice. Surely not only we, their fellow citizens, but Australians throughout the ages, will treasure forever the memories of those glorious men."

Sadly, more than 43,000 Australians have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the years since that first Remembrance Day.

This Remembrance Day RSL Victoria will hold commemorative services throughout Victoria. In Melbourne buglers will sound the Last Post at intersections throughout the CBD followed by two minutes of silence.

RSL Victoria asks all Victorians to pause for two minutes out of respect for all the men and women who have served this nation in conflicts and peacekeeping missions around the world.

10/10/2025

There are more than 20,000 high-school band programs in America, some with as many as 400 members. “Over the past 30 years, their shows have evolved into spectacles that John Philip Sousa couldn’t have imagined,” Burkhard Bilger writes. The top bands have dozens of staff, budgets of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and fleets of trucks for their instruments, props, costumes, and sound systems. “They don’t just parade up and down the field playing fight songs. They flow across it in shifting tableaux, with elaborate themes and spandex-clad dancers, playing full symphonic scores.”

Students rehearse intensely, not to play well at football games, but to prepare for a series of fiercely competitive marching-band contests in the fall, culminating in the Grand National Championships, in Indianapolis. The area is “the capital of the new marching-band culture,” Bilger writes, and has two of the country’s most successful marching band programs: the Avon High School Marching Black and Gold and the Carmel High School Marching Greyhounds.

For last year’s nationals, the Carmel marching band performed Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. “The concerto was hard for any high-school band to tackle, yet the Carmel musicians had to play it from memory, while marching, dancing, and crab-stepping sideways across the field,” Bilger writes. “It’s hard to think of another group activity, past or present, of such complexity.” Go inside the world of competitive marching bands: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/20Utp5

10/10/2025

Congratulations to Bob Labbe on 35 years with WLRH and broadcasting Reeling in the Years!

10/10/2025

WOODSTOCK NIGHT MIT VIERA BLECH
Love, Peace & Blasmusik soweit das Auge reicht! Und auch heuer: IHR als TeilnehmerInnen der Academy auf der Bühne. Und nach den Ensembles-Auftritten folgt ein Woodstock-würdiges Finale mit VIERA BLECH.

Für Besucher:innen und Begleitpersonen gibt's Tickets direkt unter www.ticketwall.at! Für Academy-Teilnehmer:innen ist der Eintritt zum Konzert inkludiert, wenn sie sich über den Organizer dafür anmelden!

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Airs at 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Brass, Reeds, and Percussion (BRP)—as the name suggests—is a program about music for the wind band (as opposed to the orchestra). The program features music composed for the instruments of the typical American high school band or the typical American military band. Music With Few Strings Attached The program is not restricted by style of music (popular vs. art) or period of music (classical vs. 20th century). Essentially, there is only one “restriction” to the music heard: It won’t feature strings (violins, violas, cellos, and most keyboard instruments). Instead, the program is a showcase for such brass instruments as trumpets, cornets, horns, trombones, euphoniums, and tubas; such woodwind instruments as piccolos, flutes, clarinets, oboes, saxophones, and bassoons; and such percussion instruments as snare drums, bass drums, cymbals, gongs, glockenspiels, xylophones, marimbas, and timpani. Occasionally, even this restriction is lifted because of the history of wind bands and the ultimate instrumentation typically found in certain styles of music. Types of Instruments and Types of Ensembles The program may feature music played on Renaissance wind instruments. In many cases, these instruments are the predecessors of current wind-band instruments: Shawm (predecessor of the modern oboe). Sackbut (predecessor of the modern trombone). Chalumeau (predecessor of the clarinet). Dulcian (predecessor of the bassoon). BRP may also feature music composed for the modern wind symphony. In this case, the name “wind symphony” implies that a wider variety of instruments than the usual band may include, including a wide variety of exotic percussion instruments and such rarer wind instruments as the English horn, contrabassoon, or Wagner tuba. Other groups of instruments featured on the show include brass quintets, brass bands, woodwind quintets, jazz bands, and Dixieland bands. For example, “big band” music is wind-band music. Musical Styles From the approximate period 1775 to 1825, the military band had a typical instrumentation of two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns. This is known as a harmonie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonie). Fortunately, much music from this period has now been recorded so that there is a huge repertoire of recorded wind-band music from the classical period. BRP is especially excited to be able to expose its loyal audience to this genre of wind-band music. Of course, the golden age of the American wind band was from approximately 1860 to 1920, the period during which John Philip Sousa composed the “Washington Post.” Although most frequently associated with the wind band, the march is not the only form of wind-band music. Nevertheless, nearly everyone loves a stirring march; so the program features at least one or two marches in almost every edition. A peculiar aspect of band music is the transcription, which is an arrangement of an orchestral work for the wind band. During the golden age of wind bands, string instruments were more expensive and string teachers weren’t common. So in this period with no radio, television, movies, phonographs, or Internet, it was far easier and cheaper for a group of local citizens to form a wind band to entertain their fellow citizens than to form an orchestra. These wind bands often played the popular melodies of the day, which often came from orchestral compositions (especially operas). Indeed, the wind-band literature is a museum for obscure late 19th century opera composers. And wind bands have often—and still do— provide school children (and perhaps the public at large) with their greatest and sometimes only exposure to major “orchestral” works. For example, before roughly 1910, four-hand piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s and Mozart’s symphonies were the way in which most of the American population heard these major orchestra works. Likewise, during this same period, most people first heard opera overtures in the form of wind-band transcriptions. As we begin the 21st century, the wind band has been discovered as a more accessible ensemble for modern composers. Modern composers of so-called art music will often write music for the wind band because there are still more bands than orchestras. Their musical compositions for wind band are therefore more likely to actually be performed and heard by the public. More information about the history of the wind band: http://www.lipscomb.edu/windbandhistory/