Announcer: And it is time now for Schickele Mix with Peter Schickele. Loud and portable, Peter? What's that all about?
Who wants to know? Here's the theme.
[theme: Mozart, Symphony No. 24]
Hello there, I'm Peter Schickele, and this is Schickele Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal, or as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good.
And how good it is to be able to report that our bills are paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Endowment for the Arts with additional support from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and from this excellent radio station where my every whim is suffered gladly and some of the less expensive ones are even indulged.
The results of all this, it is to be hoped rigorous whimsy, are distributed to the outer edges of civilization as we know it by PRI, Public Radio International.
Recently at a recording session, I asked the trombonist to play something using a different slide position to get a smooth glissando, and he said that he was impressed at how well I knew the instrument.
And I admitted to him that it isn't just because I, you know, know the principles of how the instrument works, but also because, when I was playing bassoon in high school orchestra, and I knew we were going to be having a substitute teacher that day, I would switch instruments with somebody else before the period got going, and my favorite instrument to have an illicit affair with was the trombone.
Now that's not only a comment on my instrumental inquisitiveness, or on my feelings about substitute band teachers, I remember once it was the typing teacher, it's also a comment on my feelings about band period. Or should I say, about band period, period.
In the first place, since some school bands don't have any bassoons, everything I played, of course, was doubled by the saxes or the trombones or the horns, which means I might as well have not been there. I could have been learning typing instead, but that was for girls. And then on top of that, they made me be in the marching band. We're talking about Fargo, North Dakota here, folks.
I remember thinking once, here I am, marching down Broadway, the temperature is 10 degrees above zero, I'm chewing up a $5 reed playing an instrument that nobody can hear. Even in a concert situation, I never liked that sound of everything doubled all the time. And the thing is that in this country anyway, almost all bands are school bands. In a professional symphony orchestra, you use as many instruments, more or less, as a composer asks for.
But in a high school band, you've got to let everybody who wants to play, play, even if it means having 17 trumpets and one clarinet. Of course, I'm loading the dice here, I'll admit it, talking only about high school. We teenagers are notoriously self-centered. Colleges and universities with good music programs have more than one band, and the top bands are carefully proportioned, as are military bands. But still, there's all that doubling.
I guess what it comes down to really is this: I don't like the sound of a lot of clarinets in unison as much as that of a lot of violins in unison. So maybe I'm a snob, but I will admit that after I got some commissions to write band pieces myself and started doing some guest conducting, I found out an amazing thing: bands don't have to sound like the Fargo Central High Band did in 1950. And anyway, let's face it, regardless of the niceties of orchestration... That reminds me, my teacher, Vincent Persichetti, used to say, when you write for orchestra, it's called orchestration. So when you write for band, shouldn't it be called bandstration? I told him that I hoped he never wrote anything for men's chorus.
Anyway, regardless of the niceties of instrumentation, when it comes to certain kinds of occasions, band instruments have two big points in their favor. They're loud and they're portable. For music to be played outdoors in big spaces, loud is not just an advantage, it's a prerequisite. If you had a string quartet in the middle of a football field with 60,000 people in the stands, Well, it reminds me of the old viola joke.
That's the viola joke warning signal, so if you're a violist, turn your radio off. Question. How can you tell if a violist is playing out of tune? Answer. The bow is moving. Well, that's the only way you could tell if a string quartet was playing at all in a football stadium, in or out of tune. When the King of England ordered a fireworks display for Green Park in April 1749, to celebrate the signing of a peace treaty, he approved the use of music as long as it was for warlike instruments.
I love the idea of celebrating a peace treaty with warlike instruments. But I guess victory is probably what was really being celebrated. Anyway, warlike instruments meant winds and percussion. The designated composer, however, wanted strings too. The Master of the Ordnance wrote that Handel proposes to lessen the number of trumpets, etc., and to have violins.
I don't at all doubt, but when the king hears it, he will be very much displeased. I am sure it behooves Handel to have as many trumpets and other martial instruments as possible, though he don't retrench, in other words, get rid of the violins, though I believe he will never be persuaded to do it. In the end, Handel...
Okay, Handel, Händel. I guess Händel liked Händel, but most English-speaking people nowadays say Handel, so consistency is the hemoglobin of small minds, or whatever that is. In the end, Handel did use strings, but he also used twenty-four oboes, twelve bassoons, one contrabassoon, nine horns, nine trumpets, and percussion. And the strings never play alone. No problem hearing this outfit even from the other side of the park.
[music excerpt: Handel, "Music for the Royal Fireworks, Overture"; London Symphony Orchestra/Mackerras]
The end of the overture from Handel's Royal Fireworks Music, Mackerras and the London Symphony Orchestra. It's quite an aural experience, isn't it? You know, you just don't associate the sound of more than French horns and two is the more common number with the 18th century. Listen to this place from the same movement. Now it's true that as far as I know we are hearing modern instruments here, which tend to be a little bit fuller and louder, but still, this is a sound that makes me think of romantic music, Richard Strauss or Mahler, not baroque music from the mid-1700s.
[music excerpt: Handel, "Music for the Royal Fireworks, Overture"; London Symphony Orchestra/Mackerras]
Hey, that'll put hair on your eardrums. And oh, all right, all that doubling sounds great. Okay, now, Handel needed loud for that occasion, but he didn't need portable, so it was easy to include strings. Military musicians, however, have to be able not only to march, but also to scurry around and provide ceremonial music at the proper time and place.
A while ago, I was part of a gala concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and part of the festivities was a reception at the White House. When my wife and I got up to the second floor, there was a combo playing dance music, maybe six or eight musicians. And even though they weren't in full military uniform, I figured they were probably Marines. Then later, when we were in, I think it was the green room, waiting for the President and the First Lady to arrive, all of a sudden we hear, out in the hall,
[music: "Four Ruffles & Flourishes, Hail to the Chief" (Ceremonial Music); United States Tactical Air Command Band/Lt. Col. Lowell E. Graham]
Of course, everybody stood up then.
We're still standing.
And then in came the Prez and the First Lady. I was impressed. I guess I'd always assumed that Hail to the Chief was only played at important state functions, you know, big diplomatic deals like the signing of a peace treaty or, even more important, a trade agreement allowing us to export hula hoops to the Canary Islands.
And yet, here it was being played when all Bill and Hillary were going to do was say a few words to a few hundred musicians, actors, and Kennedys. And I assume that it was the same musicians who we saw before providing background music. They became a small ceremonial band outside the green room, and then after the speeches, they went back to being a society band.
Now, what we actually heard back there in the program was the United States Air Force Tactical Air Command Band, perhaps the longest name of an ensemble I've ever seen. Lieutenant Colonel Lowell E. Graham, Commander-Conductor. I know some symphony orchestra conductors who would love to have Commander be a part of their title. Actually, I have worked with the Lieutenant Colonel and his musicians, and it was a pleasure indeed.
On the PDQ Bach album, Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion, the credit for the Turtle Mountain Naval Base Tactical Wind Ensemble reads, The National Symphonic Winds, under the direction of Lowell Graham, has asked that their participation on this album not be revealed, far be it from us to deny their wishes. We'll be hearing from them again later in the show.
In the meantime, we're talking about bands. And, of course, the place where portability counts the most is parades. Concert bands often include a string bass, but not marching bands. Now, we won't hear much in the way of marches today, only because we deal with them on a separate show. But there is one marching situation, a non-military marching situation, that was very important in the development of one of America's greatest gifts to the world.
I'm talking about jazz, and I'm talking about black funerals in New Orleans. The procession to the cemetery was accompanied by sad music, reflecting the mourners' feelings of loss. But going back home, the music was happy, reflecting the survivors' faith that the deceased had gone to a better place.
[music: Trad., "Precious Lord, Hold My Hand" (Manic Traditions); Les Misérables Brass Band]
[music: "Bourbon Street Parade" (On Bourbon Street); Olympia Brass Band]
Okay, I couldn't find any actual field recordings of New Orleans funeral music from a century ago.
So that was the Les Misérables Brass Band playing Precious Lord, Hold My Hand, which was followed by the Olympia Brass Band playing Bourbon Street Parade, which was followed by the host of a radio program back announcing those numbers, which will now be followed by that host giving his name, which is Peter Schickele, followed by the name of the program, which is Schickele Mix from PRI, Public Radio International.
Loud and portable. We're talking about bands, which have been an important part of our musical life in many ways, I mean, aside from parades and marching. For instance, there's the circus.
[music: Stravinsky, "Circus Polka" (American Originals); Air Combat Command Heritage of America Band/Lt. Col. Lowell E. Graham]
Igor Stravinsky's Circus Polka, played by the Turtle Mountain Naval Base Tactical Wind Ensemble, this time going by the name Air Combat Command Heritage of America Band, another blockbuster name, under the direction of Commander-Conductor Lieutenant Colonel Lowell E. Graham. You know, I think that the Juilliard Quartet should change its name to the Juilliard School of Music at Lincoln Center Heritage of Western Civilization String Quartet under the direction of Commander First Violinist Founder Robert N. Mann.
Oh, I know that string quartets don't have commanders. A four-way conversation among equals, right? A family, right? Which is why the members of some quartets get so mad at each other that they stomp out of the room during rehearsals and sit as far apart from each other as possible on the plane going to gigs. Anyway, the Circus Polka was written in 1942 for an elephant ballet choreographed by George Balanchine for the Ringling Brothers Circus.
Ah, those were the days when a major classical composer and a major ballet choreographer would agree to, hey, would even be asked to create something for the circus. Oh well, Tempus Fučík. Another way in which bands have been an important part of our musical life... [sound: phone rings] Oh, brother. Excuse me. Hello? Oh, hello, sir.
Tempus Fučík? Oh, it's just a little joke, sir, a little play on words. You don't? Well, you know the expression Tempus fugit, time flies? Okay, well, Tempus Fučík refers to the composer Fučík, who wrote one of the most popular circus pieces ever, the Entrance of the Gladiators. It's, um, you know, [sung: the opening of the tune] Yes, sir.
Well, I guess you're right. I guess it is a little bit too much of an in-joke. I'll keep that in mind, sir. Okay, thank you. Glad you're listening, sir. Bye.
No, it's true. I don't want to be an elitist or anything, particularly when the subject is bands, which appeal to a broad, you know, to the lowest common denominator.
Anyway, I was saying that, especially in the days before radio and recordings, and even now, in schools, bands have been an effective way of introducing people to good music, you know, music originally written for orchestra, as well as your typical, oh, all right, all right, I take it back, I'm not even going to answer that.
Here we go. An effective way of introducing people to good music from other genres, such as symphonic music and opera, as well as the many fine classics that some of our greatest composers have written for instruments that you slobber into or hit. A century ago, the inhabitants of many towns, and even small cities, might never in their lives hear a symphony orchestra.
But a top-notch touring band might very well come through, like that of John Philip Sousa, who often included transcriptions of orchestral pieces on his programs. The tradition of band transcriptions continues to the present day. And here's an unusually skillful example. This piece originally comes not from the orchestral literature but from the organ repertoire. You might want to keep in mind as you listen to this very effective transcription that the organ is a wind instrument.
[music excerpt: J. S. Bach, "Toccata & Fugue in D minor, Toccata" (Live at Osaka); Eastman Wind Ensemble/Hunsberger]
Toccata and Fugue in D minor performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble conducted by Donald Hunsberger, who also made the transcription.
If you're used to that beginning going [sung: the opening with its turn] and you notice that here it was [sung: the version just heard], Bach didn't write those notes out. He used a mordent, a sign for an embellishment, and I guess there is maybe some room for difference of opinion or for performer leeway in exactly how to play it. Okay, now get out your blue books, because here comes a test. Since bands were very popular in Europe in the 19th century, and since the 19th century was still in the heyday of colonialism, there are bands all over the place, including parts of the world that I never would have thought of as being band-prone.
This suite is called Citizens Bands: A World Tour. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to guess in which country or even general area each of these three selections was recorded. You've got eight minutes before you have to turn your answers in.
[music: Trad., "Tangimausia" (Pan Gossary #1); Beulah College Band (Tonga)]
[music: Trad., "Lagu Daerah Tapanuli" (Pan Gossary #1); Batak Brass Band Tambunan Musik Balige]
[music: Trad., "Achum" (Pan Gossary #1); The Peace Brass Band]
Citizens Bands: A World Tour. Actually, instead of turning your papers in, why don't you correct your own? We lazy teachers always say that you'll learn more that way. I'll give you all three answers right away while the music is still fresh in your head. Number one, Tonga. Number two, Sumatra. Number three, Ghana.
They're all off a terrific sampler from Pan Records, Pan Glossary No. 1, Ethnic Series. The first number was Tangimausia played by the Beulah College Band of Tonga. Then came Lagu Daerah Tapanuli recorded during a two-day Batak Christian funeral wake of the former rector of the local high school in the town of Balige, Sumatra. The brass band is called Tambunan Musik Balige.
And finally, Achum performed by the Peace Brass Band of Ghana. If you come from Tonga, Sumatra, or Ghana, please excuse my pronunciation of all those names. I even have trouble with my own. My father said Schickele, but I say Schickele, as in Peter Schickele, host of Schickele Mix, from PRI, Public Radio International.
Today's show is called Loud and Portable, which refers to band instruments, not me, although I am loud at times. As you might have gathered by now, the nomenclature of these wind groups occasionally seems capricious. Band, concert band, brass band, which sometimes has a saxophone or clarinet in it, wind ensemble, symphonic winds, wind symphony.
Sometimes the term wind ensemble, for instance, feels as if it's meant to imply a class distinction as much as a musical one. It says, we're not merely a band. Bands are like cops on the beat. Wind ensembles, like desk sergeants, don't have to pound the pavement. In other words, wind ensemble is to band as flautist is to flutist.
Wind ensembles are caviar. Bands are fish eggs. A band may be... Okay, okay, I am getting a little bit carried away there. Not exactly irrelevant, but carried away. I just can't help kidding wind ensembles about that distinction.
But in point of fact, there actually is a valid distinction. Wind ensembles are often smaller than bands, with only one or very few players per part, and they usually concentrate on the more symphonic wind repertoire, as opposed to marches. But they're still larger than chamber groups, and they generally do include percussion. Here are three nifty but little known works for winds and percussion. They're all rather unusual for their composers.
So I call this suite Oddball in the Side Pocket. I'll see you in about seven minutes.
[music: Stravinsky, "Le Chant des Bateliers de la Volga"; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Ansermet]
[music: Mozart, "Divertimento in C (KV 188/240b), 3rd Mvt."; Members of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Laird]
[music: Zappa (Munchkin Music), "Envelopes" (Songs & Dances); Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony/Corporon]
Oddball in the Side Pocket. Music by Stravinsky, Mozart, and Frank Zappa. Stravinsky did that arrangement of the Song of the Volga Boatman for a performance by Diaghilev's Ballet Russe in Switzerland when the Russian Revolution made it inappropriate to begin with God Save the Tsar. That was recorded in 1952 by Ansermet and members of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
The Mozart was part of a divertimento K-188 for, are you ready for this? Two flutes, five trumpets, and four timpani. Okay, so that's not exactly, it's pretty small for a wind ensemble, but it's not your typical chamber music either. Michael Laird conducting members of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
And finally, Frank Zappa's delicious envelopes, love the glue on those flaps, played by the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony under the baton of Eugene Corporon. Puzzled by some of those sounds? There's an electric guitar in there in addition to the piano. Well, we're just about to the end of the road here of our program on band and wind ensemble music.
You might say we're just getting a little bit out of breath, but I do wonder what is that? That sounds familiar. It must be right out there in the hall. What could be going on?
That's hail to the chief. The president must be in the building. You know, I wonder if he isn't a fan of Schickele Mix. He's probably in town and heard that it's on right now and, you know, decided to drop by unannounced. Excuse me, folks. I'm just going to go and open the door for him.
[music: "Four Ruffles & Flourishes, Hail to the Chief" (Ceremonial Music); United States Tactical Air Command Band/Lt. Col. Lowell E. Graham]
What's that?
Well, it is the president, but he's going on down the hall there. One of those guys wearing an earpiece says that the president heard that Garrison Keillor's in town and he wants to meet him. It's really not fair. Tall guys always have an advantage.
[theme: Mozart, Symphony No. 24]
And that's Schickele Mix for this week. Our program is made possible with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and from this radio station and its members. Thank you, members. Not only that, our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International.
We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program with album numbers and everything. Just refer to the program number. This is program number 126. And this is Peter Schickele saying that I've been around a lot longer than Garrison Keillor and also goodbye and also reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi. You're looking good. See you next week.
[theme: Mozart, Symphony No. 24]
Announcer: If you'd like a copy of the playlist that Peter Schickele mentions, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Schickele Mix, that's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Schickele Mix, Care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403. This is program number 126.