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    Welcome to The Concert Band

    This web site is dedicated to college and secondary school concert and wind bands. It contains information about the various instruments employed, as well as hints about band training (including technique and intonation), conducting, the physical laws the govern sound production, and anything else I think the young musicians who play in these bands might find helpful. Some sections (such as the one on interpretation) are more for band directors than players, of course, but overall I have tried to include something of interest to just about everyone.

    There is also a large section devoted to the activities of the Brass Band Jenderal (BBJ), a Salvation Army band based in Medan, Indonesia. If you are interested in this Band, click here.

    Some of the information on this website has been extracted from my book entitled The Band Director's Handbook: A guide for College and Secondary School Band Directors in Southeast Asia. The book also includes additional chapters on pedagogy and the varying characteristics of different wind band instruments that are not included in this website. It also has a chapter devoted to writing arrangements and transcriptions for wind band. To order a copy of my book, see the publication details below.

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    BBJ stands for Brass Band Jenderal. It means “The General’s Band” in English. The band is based at a Salvation Army Boys home in Medan, Indonesia. Sometimes called “The Medan Band” by foreigners, it was given the name BBJ in 1989 by General Eva Burrows (the Salvation Army’s international leader at the time) when she met band members in Bandung, Indonesia Read about it here.
    This is the section where I intend to post a variety of articles expanding on subjects not discussed in detail on other parts of this website. Click here.

    This website includes several free scores for both wind and brass band that you can download and use with your band. One of my favourites is an arrangement of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus that I wrote for brass band. To take a look as the music, click here. To take a look at the other scores currently available on this website, click here.

     

     

    This book has been written in response to the need for a comprehensive yet affordable guide for wind band directors. It is a practical manual, dealing with the principles of embouchure formation, tone production, and articulation for every major brass and woodwind instrument. Special chapters are also devoted to the fundamentals of conducting and writing transcriptions. In every case, the idea has been to approach the subject matter from the point of view of the non-specialist.

    You can purchase the handbook online

    http://www.mphonline.com.my

    Or From The Amazon.com

     

     

     

    This section discusses some of the basic principles involved in getting beyond the notes and interpreting the music.  Not all of the principles outlined here need to be understood by band members in order to produce a musically pleasing performance. However, the conductor certainly needs to be aware of them if he is to bring out the best in his band! Click here.
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    Palu Congress 2008

    From July 16-19 2009 the Medan Band (officially Brass Band Jenderal - BBJ) travelled to Palu in Central Sulawesi to attend the celebrations for the Salvation Army's 115th anniversary in Indonesia. Band members flew from Medan to Jakarta and then boarded a connecting flight to Palu. Both trips took about 2 hours each.

     

     

    From July 16-19 2009 the Medan Band (officially Brass Band Jenderal - BBJ) travelled to Palu in Central Sulawesi to attend the celebrations for the Salvation Army's 115th anniversary in Indonesia. Band members flew from Medan to Jakarta and then boarded a connecting flight to Palu. Both trips took about 2 hours each.

    Before we left, we thought that band would have to march at the Congress. BBJ is not a marching band, but we decided we should practice. Of course, the band sounded terrible, and the marching was even worse! It was lucky that when we got to Palu the organisers decided we didn't have to play and march at the same time.

    Here are some of the band members at Polonia airport (Medan) before the trip to Palu.

    On the plane everyone was happy:

    Even 12-year-old Esron, our youngest member, found it hard to believe he was really going!

    Here is what the band looked like at the Congress:

    And here is a close up shot:

    There were 14,000 registered participants. Here is a photograph of the overflow at the back of the grounds where the Congress was held:

    Just as the Congress was about to start, news reached Palu of the terrorist bombings at the Marriot hotel in Jakarta. Some people were worried that terrorists might attack the Salvation Army congress in Palu as well. But we were about 1,500 km away, and the congress went ahead. You can read more about the political situation in Palu at the time and how the authorities ensured security by clicking here.

    Our hosts in Palu provided good food:

    But the boys wanted more, especially at night. So I bought more snacks for them to eat.

    The return trip was boring by comparison. So on the way back, we stopped at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta airport to get some burgers:

    Arriving back in Medan that night everyone agreed it had been a wonderful adventure. But - curiously enough - band members also decided that Medan was the best city in Indonesia. As for me, I was just plain broke!

    (If you got this far, you may also like to read about the band's experience with Indonesia's notorious domestic airlines. click here.)

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