History of Bands Wind Ensembles as Related to Music Education

History Of Bands/Wind Ensembles

The Wind Ensemble

The modern wind ensemble was born in 1952. Frederick Fennel created the Eastman Wind Ensemble in that year. For this ensemble Fennel created an entirely new instrumentation, which used the instruments that were normally found in symphonic bands or concert bands. However, unlike these bands, Fennel made each section playable by only one person, instead of an entire group. In this arrangement, every player has the chance to play solos and therefore have a greater challenge. Fennel worked hard on getting composers to write music for this arrangement. Composers would write music for it that was much like the winds and percussion section of an orchestra, but with added instruments like the saxophone and euphonium.

One of the only composers that wrote music for bands was Sousa, who composed march pieces. Other than marches, most music played at band concerts was transcribed from classical orchestral pieces. It was Fennel that first started arranging these classical pieces, such as those by Mozart and Gabrieli, for the wind ensemble. Groups of any size could perform these new arrangements, Each member of the ensemble could now perform classical, military, symphonic, and other musical pieces. The wind ensemble as envisioned by Fennel quickly became popular in high schools and colleges and universities because of the flexibility for students. Many other organizations that feature bands also use the wind ensemble formation, even across the world. Many composers today will write music specifically for this ensemble. The wind ensemble has woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments in the makeup.

The piccolo, a word meaning "tiny" in Italian, is a small flute. It is normally pitched in the key of C. Interestingly, music for piccolo is written an octave lower than it is intended to sound so that it will fit on the score lines better. The fingerings on a piccolo correspond to those on a flute, but they play an octave higher than a flute. Sometimes a piccolo pitched in D flat instead of C. is used in wind ensembles.

The transverse flute is also a woodwind, and the person who plays this instrument is called a flutist or flautist. It is an open-ended tube with no reed, with finger holes to produce different tones. The flutist blows across a tone hole at the front end of the flute.

The oboe is also of the woodwind family, descended from the shawm which is not often used today. "Hautbois" in French means "high woods" and this is where the name oboe comes from because it has a high and reedy sound. It has a double reed. The person who plays the oboe is called an oboist.