Volume 25 Issue 7 - April 2020

Beat by Beat | Bandstand
Didgeridoo Meets
Theremin
While We Wait and See
JACK MACQUARRIE
Last month’s column opened with the following cautionary note:
“Beware the Ides of March. Thus spoke the soothsayer as he
warned Julius Caesar of his impending doom. As we know from
history, the soothsayer was correct in his warning to Caesar.” With
this quote, I was merely indicating that we had no idea what might
be happening in the band world, because we had not heard from
any bands about their scheduled activities. We did not think that
there might be any impending doom. We certainly could not have
forecast the doom which has beset our planet. Call it coronavirus
or COVID-19, this pandemic has certainly upset our musical world.
Most community musical groups rehearse and perform in schools,
community centres, churches or similar venues. Almost without
exception, these are all closed until further notice. Even if the venues
had not been closed, most groups would certainly not get together
with so many people in close contact.
For many bands this will be a wait-and-see situation. Some have
already announced a suspension of all rehearsals and concerts for the
season. A couple that we have heard of have announced innovative
plans. In one case, the band has made arrangements for those who do
not have their music folder at home and would like to keep up with
practice during this break time. The Band Librarian has offered to
create PDF copies of music from individual music folders. These would
then be emailed to those who wished, and they would print them at
home. In this situation each member would be limited to three or four
pieces. Members also have been given the link to MP3 sample recordings
of music in the band’s practice folder.
Another approach is to have the band “Go Virtual on Practice
Night.” Their band memo says: “COVID-19 might stop us from
having our weekly Monday rehearsals and social gathering BUT with
modern technology we can “STAY CONNECTED”!! Band members are
invited to “Join our rehearsal night VIRTUAL GATHERING (in lieu of
rehearsals) from your computer, tablet, iPhone, iPad. They are also
given information on how to join a Zoom meeting.
Other Calamities
While on the subject of calamities disrupting band activities, two very
different calamities for bands come to mind. The first of these took
place in January 1945 at the Canadian Navy’s Signal School in Saint-
Hyacinthe, Quebec. The Signal School’s band had played an evening
concert in Montreal. When they arrived back, late in the evening, the
band members left all of their instruments in their bus which was
then parked in the garage. Somewhere around 4am a fire broke out in
an adjacent building where a large quantity of explosives were stored.
Band members and others, manning fire hoses in temperatures of
-20F, watched as the inferno destroyed all of the band’s instruments
and music.
The other calamity occurred in Newmarket. In 1899, Great
Britain declared war in South Africa (in what was called the Boer
War). Shortly thereafter a number of Canadian regiments offered their
services and a cablegram of acceptance was received from the Imperial
War Office. In May of 1902, when word came of British victory at
Pretoria, the mayor and council created a committee to organize a
patriotic concert to celebrate the victory.
The following is an excerpt from the local newspaper of the time:
“A local holiday was granted, the citizens band engaged in preparation
for a grand celebration. Rockets were procured for a magnificent
display visible from the old dam that was partly composed of a
platform with a railing extended over the water.
“On the platform, the band was stirring the fervor with patriotic
music. The box of rockets and other fireworks had been set
upon this platform and the first rocket was set off. Unfortunately,
it was thrown backwards and exploded among the remaining
rockets. An uproar ensued as a great geyser of colourful combustion
went up. Bedlam reigned. Members of the band were thrown
into the water where, clinging to their instruments, they floundered.
One rocket shot through the drum, ripping the heel from the shoe
of the drummer. And still the fireworks continued. A portion of the
dam was damaged but though the bandsmen received a thorough
ducking, no lives were lost. I am sure it must have been unanimous
that of the many celebrations staged throughout Canada, those of
Newmarket must have been unique.”
Three Recent events
Wychwood: Of the musical presentations which I have attended in
recent weeks there are three which warrant mention. The first of these
was the Wychwood Clarinet Choir’s “Midwinter Suites”. As usual,
Michele Jacot and Roy Greaves entertained with music from Leroy
Anderson to Ralph Vaughan Williams. In this performance there were
not only solos by Jacot and the full choir, but works by small ensembles
from within the choir. For me the highlight was the full choir’s
performance of Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Song Suite.
Richard Herriott: In the February column I mentioned that the Encore
Symphonic Concert Band would be performing a special concert on
February 28 to provide some assistance for pianist and composer
Richard Herriott who was recently the victim of a serious fire where
he lost everything. The proceeds of this concert were to be a part of a
GoFundMe campaign to help him get back on his feet.
I had the pleasure of attending this concert. My vocabulary does
not have sufficient superlatives to describe the evening. One feature
was Herriott’s performance of his Four Note Concerto. For this
number, audience members were asked to call out any four notes of
the musical scale. Then Herriott began to improvise on those four
notes. From very simple note sequences it advanced to a very pleasant
melodic solo piano performance. Also in the first half of the concert
was a flugelhorn solo by band conductor John Liddle. I was familiar
with Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, but had never heard it before
on a brass instrument. This arrangement by former band member
Eddie Graf would be a worthy addition to any band’s repertoire.
While the four-note concerto was Herriott’s only part in the first
half of the program, the second half was all his. An arrangement
of Slaughter on Tenth Avenue for piano and band was followed by
Liszt’s St. Francois de Paule marchant sur les flots for solo piano. The
grand finale was Ferde Grofė’s arrangement for piano and band of
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. An amazing performance of an excellent
arrangement.
Not once during this concert was there any sheet of music on the
piano. It was all stored in Herriott’s mind. Similarly for John Liddle’s
solo. It was all from memory. This talent always makes me wince,
because I couldn’t play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star without the
music in front of me.
HMCS York Navy Band: For a different sort of performance, we
recently attended a “recital” by the Band of HMCS York, Toronto’s
Reserve Naval Division. Yes, the term was recital, not concert. This
ensemble is a large concert band with all of the usual instrumentation,
but on this occasion, the performance venue was the Naval Club of
Toronto, a social club whose members are Navy Veterans and associate
members. Since there could be no way to set up such a large group to
perform, it was an ideal location for several ensembles in a friendly,
intimate atmosphere.
This Navy Band is an ideal group for such a program. Unlike most
bands, which only play as a single large group, they have developed
several small ensembles. Not only does this aid in the development of
24 | April 2020 thewholenote.com