Resources - Period Documents & Sheet Music
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Dodworth’s Brass Band School was published in 1853 by H.B. Dodworth & Co. (New York) and written by Allen Dodworth.
In addition to fundamentals of music and fingering charts, this text is particularly helpful because it includes a number of recommended tempo markings for styles of music. It also includes some interesting insights into the deportment of bands for parades, funerals, review, and rehearsals.
The collection concludes with a handful of arrangements written for brass band in score form. I have extracted the parts from the scores and made them available for purchase in the Store.
A Practical Guide to the Arrangement of Band Music was published in 1875 by John F. Stratton & Co. in New York and was written by G.F. Patton.
This text is critical for learning how to write arrangements for 19th-century brass bands. Patton takes the time to not only describe the practical range, function, and role of each instrument in the band, but also explains characteristics of certain types of pieces such as the leaps found in a polka or the skipping found in a schottische.
Patton explicitly says how learning the skill of arranging for band is critical for those leaders who wish to turn piano scores into band arrangements. This skill is crucial if we are to perform repertoire of underrepresented composers such as Francis Johnson, A.J.R. Conner, and many female composers.
The final section (appendices) provides some interesting insights into the practices and deportment of bands in the 1800s
Finally, there are a handful of arrangements in score form that can be found in this text.
McCosh’s Guide for Amateur Brass Bands was published in 1880 by Lyon & Healy of Chicago. David Snowberger )(D.S.) McCosh was a composer and band leader of the Lyon & Healy Band, a regimental band with the Illinois National Guard, and various municipal bands. He was born in 1847 and passed away in 1936 at the age of 88.
McCoch’s Guide for Amateur Brass Bands contains a plethora of helpful information for brass band leaders and scholars, even though it was published towards the end of the American brass band movement.
Such helpful information includes:
How to form the band for parades depending on band size (with pictures)
Sheet music for full band and section warm-ups
Signals for the drum major
Insights into the formation of bands and their conduct in the 19th-century