Brass Band Music

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A Brass Band is a very versatile musical group. The variety and range of instruments from the smallest and highest pitched soprano cornet to the largest and lowest pitched Bb tuba, provides huge scope for arranging a very wide variety of music and producing a rich variety of textures.

Brass bands are well known for playing marches on parades (e.g. May Day, Remembrance Day, Community fairs etc.), hymns at civic and religious services, but they also play a wide range of music in a concert setting e.g. arrangements of classical, popular and film music.

Brass bands are especially suited to outdoor events where the strong sound of a brass band at full volume can carry across a field or be heard above the din of a crowd, when other quieter instruments would struggle to be heard without amplification. However, a brass band can also be very delicate and peaceful in an indoor setting when the need arises!

Well known Brass Band music includes:

Popular: Floral Dance, Danny Boy, Clog Dance, Bohemian Rhapsody, Ticket to Ride,

Classical arrangements: Adagio from Concerto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo, William Tell Overture by Rossini, Pomp and Circumstance no 1  by Elgar, Toccata and Fugue by J S Bach, A Moorside Suite by Gustov Holst

Film music: The Great Escape, Dambusters March, Star Wars theme, James Bond medley, Born Free, Pirates of the Caribbean

Hymns: Gresford (the miners’ hymn), The Old Rugged Cross (Salvation Army hymn), Abide with Me, Jerusalem

Marches: Standard of St George, Slaidburn, Knights Templar, Death or Glory, Colonel Bogey

Searching You Tube will soon find many versions of these and other brass band music!

Return to What is a Brass Band? page.

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