Project Overview

What Is Here

No effort has been made to rank or evaluate quality of music in this library. That's not our purpose. Besides, that's already been done by the original owners. There are a couple of exceptions: Music has been excluded that is still under copyright and music that is culturally inappropriate has been left off the site.

The music is being made available in historical context, so even incomplete sets are posted. Hopefully additional parts will become available as people contact us with replacement parts to share.

Grade Levels (Degree Of Difficulty)

We've consulted the Grade Level Chart published by American Band College to determine the difficulty level of each piece.

Observation:
For the most part, difficulty levels depend on Solo/First Clarinet and Solo/First Cornet parts, (occasionally Piccolo and Baritone parts as well.) During this time period, most of the remaining parts were less demanding. Consider that many town bands had their finest musicians on Solo/First Clarinet and Solo/First Cornet, Piccolo and Baritone, while other parts were covered by less experienced members, including the youngest performers. Also included in the evaluation is the complexity of the musical ideas, counterpoint, etc.

A Word On Instrumentation

Band instrumentation in this library is quite varied according to the requirements of the time period, needs of the band for which it was written and publishing practices of the day.

A typical instrumentation consists of:

• Db Piccolo
• Oboe
• Clarinets: Eb Soprano; Bb Soprano - Solo/First, Second, Third
• Bassoon
• [Saxophone family, any or all - Bb Soprano, Eb Alto, Bb Tenor, Eb Baritone]
• Cornets: Eb; Bb - Solo/First, Second, Third
• Alto Horn: 1, 2, 3, 4
• Tenor Horn: 1, 2
• Trombone - Bass Clef: First, Second, Bass (Third) [Treble Clef - same parts]
• Baritone - Treble and Bass Clef
• Tuba (Basses) [Eb Tuba]
• Drums
  
  [] = sometimes included; sometimes not

Reference works consulted:

• Smith, Norman E. March Music Notes. Chicago: GIA Publications, 1989.
• Rehrig, William H. Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991.
• Grade Level Chart, American Band College
• And countless websites on the net.