Concert March: The Esquire (CoMB + SAM Brass)

**Dargason** · 08-09-2010, 03:36 PM

Just finished my latest commission, a concert march in British style. The first strain theme is based on the English folk song "Over The Hills And Far Away"; the rest is original.

The realization is straight from Finale 2011 using CoMB for woodwinds and GPO SAM Brass (with a bit of compression added). I'm very happy with the sound - it's realistic enough but also highly transparent, so I can pick out every voice and hear problems easily. The only inconvenience is that the damped bass drum from "Bass Drum KS" is not available in GPO "Basic Orch Perc" so I had to use separate channels for bass and snare drums. The full decay bass drum is useless for marches as it thunders on several seconds. Also, the edge on the SAM trumpets is awesome but it's tricky to quiet them down at lower dynamics. Hope you enjoy it!

The Esquire (MP3)

**sd cisco** · 08-10-2010, 12:12 PM

Your love of the genre comes through loud and clear! All the detail and nuance indicates your thorough familiarity with marching band music, and BTW, I agree with your comments on the Bass Drum and the Sam Brass.
Thanks for posting!

Best regards,
sd cisco

**englishgent** · 08-11-2010, 10:51 AM

As a former British Bandsman (Euphonium), I was very excited to see this posted, and upon listening I was not disppointed. This is very tight and solid. Should work really well performed live.

If I might make one small suggestion: Have you tried it a hair faster? I speeded it up to around 115 bpm and to my ears seemed to hold together better and have the necessary drive. Just a thought.

Anyway, that was a real treat for me, and I appreciate you posting this.
Regards,
Owen

**Dargason** · 08-11-2010, 01:33 PM

Thanks everyone for the kind words, especially from Englishgent! I'm honored. I'd love to do a brass band arrangement as well. I do agree that it should be fun at a faster tempo - I look forward to hearing it performed both ways.

You may recognize the folk tune "Over The Hills And Far Away" which I set in the first part of the march. Surprisingly I have never found another instrumental piece that uses the tune. Grainger subtitled his "Children's March" as "Over The Hills And Far Away" but it's a completely different tune.

Also interested in opinions on the lack of a "stinger" note at the end. What do you think, stinger or no stinger?

**englishgent** · 08-11-2010, 04:03 PM

I vote no stinger. Although I might extend the last phrase, doubling some note values and going for a rising note figure rather than falling.

Yes, I recognized the tune and can't get it out of my head now! 6 hours and counting...

**Cliff Lowe** · 08-12-2010, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by Dargason

Thanks everyone for the kind words, especially from Englishgent! I'm honored. I'd love to do a brass band arrangement as well. I do agree that it should be fun at a faster tempo - I look forward to hearing it performed both ways.

You may recognize the folk tune "Over The Hills And Far Away" which I set in the first part of the march. Surprisingly I have never found another instrumental piece that uses the tune. Grainger subtitled his "Children's March" as "Over The Hills And Far Away" but it's a completely different tune.

Also interested in opinions on the lack of a "stinger" note at the end. What do you think, stinger or no stinger?

Roger Quilter included this tune in his "Children's Overture". (Cliff Lowe)

**Cliff Lowe** · 08-12-2010, 07:03 AM

Roger Quilter included this tune in his delightful "Children's Overture".
Love "The Esquire" march. Regarding the "stinger" at the end, IMHO, since the work ends rather quietly, could you add at the end, a reprise of the lively early theme to round off the piece? Great job!
Cliff Lowe

**Frank D** · 08-13-2010, 12:47 PM

Hi Dargason,

Enjoyed your march. I particularly liked your recording of the percussion tracks; very realistic and they pulled the entire work together. Whatever extra effort you had to do with the percussion tracks was well worth it!

Regards,

Frank

**Dargason** · 03-02-2012, 02:13 PM

A quick update on this: the march will be performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony on March 13. I will post a live recording ASAP - always makes for a great comparison to the Finale/Garritan version.

I've revisited the march since first posting, taking some suggestions from you all and others into account. Some of the changes:

Tempo slightly faster
Added percussion swells to final strain and also a 4-bar melodic extension
Added stinger to the end (the commissioner requested it, not really my choice)

Very happy with it overall; it expresses what I intended and also makes good utility music (i.e., you can D.C. to the top from the end and play it ad infinitum at graduation exercises!).

The Esquire (revised 2012)

**rbowser-** · 03-02-2012, 02:39 PM

Dargason! What fun to see your post come back to the top. And with such excellent news! Big congrats on the upcoming performance - and I hope you can follow through on the idea of posting a recording of that live rendition. I'm sure a lot of us would love to listen to the Garritan version along side Dallas version, will be very interesting and entertaining too.

This sounds simply great. Such admirable orchestration, and consistently very pleasing music, recorded really well. Nice!

Randy