Never Lose Sight of Why You Do This
By johnb on April 5th, 2012
It did not dawn on me until yesterday that I never announced one of my newest posters on here yet. So far I’ve gotten a great response to this poster and I wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. So, here it is, and it is now available on Tone Deaf’s NEW Store site!
As always, every poster at the Tone Deaf Store is Buy 3 Get 1 Free!
First Suite in Eb Wins!
By johnb on April 3rd, 2012
I know this may not be shocking to anyone, but Holst’s First Suite in Eb wins the Wind Band Composition Championship. Just like last year- when Holst won the Wind Band Composer Bracket- First Suite in Eb swept every competitor it was up against. The closest battle came against Lincolshire Posy when it won with only 58% of the votes. Other than Lincolnshire, no other composition came close, including Stars and Stripes Forever in the final (Stars only received 26% of the vote).
A lot of people predicted that the Holst would win from the beginning. Did that make this bracket somewhat boring? Possibly. Did we at least get to see how well newer compositions stacked up against some of the “classics”? Yes, and people still favor the classics (overall) to the newer pieces. There are many reasons why, but why do you think that the newer pieces (such as Asphalt Cocktail, Ecstatic Waters, and others) got voted out? Not as people know the pieces? Not as memorable? I’d like to hear your take on it. I personally don’t think it’s one thing over another, but more of a combination of every reason why it might be.
Anyway, thanks for participating in this year’s brackets. I hope you had fun with it, which was the main goal. Also, I hope you got to experience some pieces for the first time. As I was going through these pieces again I was re-discovering some of them as if it were the first time for me listening to them. I totally forgot how great some of these pieces are. Even though the bracket is over, I would highly encourage you to go back and listen to the pieces you may not know as well. YouTube has most of the pieces on there, but I would greatly recommend purchasing the ones you really like from iTunes. It is very important to support musicians/composers and the great work they do so we can enjoy ourselves just a little bit more each day. The more we support them the more they can continue to write great music for us and your students. Anyways, come back and see if we have another poll next year!
Round 2 Results
By johnb on March 20th, 2012
By demand, here are the results of round two (winners have the percentage of votes they received next to their names):
Lincolnshire Posy (83.9)
Fantasia in G
Gazebo Dances
Divertimento (75.7)
Chorale and Shaker Dance (61.5)
Esprit de Corps
Symphony #4
Variations on a Korean Folk Song (60.1)
First Suite in Eb (83.7)
La Fiesta Mexicana
Dance Movements
Prelude, Siciliano, & Rondo (64.5)
English Folk Song Suite (78.5)
Scenes from the Louvre
Third Symphony
Symphonic Dance #3, “Fiesta” (62.7)
Symphony in Bb (67.3)
Music for Prague 1968
Terpsichore
On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss (83.5)
Symphony #1, “Lord of the Rings”
Stars and Stripes Forever (51.1)
Elegy for a Young American
Blue Shades (73.7)
Russian Christmas Music (69.2)
Asphalt Cocktail
An American Salute (51.3)
Rocky Point Holiday
Be Thou My Vision
October (72.5)
Slava! (66.5)
Of Sailors and Whales
Definitely some interesting results and unexpected percentages. I would have definitely thought that Of Sailors and Whales would have continued on. I also thought that the Dance Movements bracket would have been closer, as well.
Round 1 Voting Results (Wind Band Composition Brackets)
By johnb on March 17th, 2012
The First Round of the Wind Band Compositon Bracket is finished. We are now onto Round Two voting and it is even tougher than the first. While we aren’t going to release official number of votes we will let you know the percentages of votes for each bracket.
Some notes before we get into the full results.
The composition with the highest percentage of votes was Holst’s First Suite in Eb with a whopping 97.1% of the votes. The closest margin of victory was Gazebo Dances over Watchman, Tell Us of the Night with only 50.7% of the votes (the next closest gap was Asphalt Cocktail over Niagara Falls with 51.7%).
Here are the rest of the voting results. (the winners have the percentage of votes they pulled in next to their titles- rounded to the nearest tenth)
Lincolnshire Posy (90.9%)
Firefly
Symphony #1
Fantasia in G (66.4%)
Gazebo Dances (50.7%)
Watchman, Tell Us of the Night
Divertimento (85.3%)
Jug Blues and Fat Pickin’
Chorale and Shaker Dance (54.2%)
Emblems
Symphony #3
Esprit de Corps (59.3%)
Flag of Stars
Symphony #4 (78.8%)
Variations on a Korean Folk Song (54.0%)
Salvation is Created
First Suite in Eb (97.1%)
Deja Vu
La Fiesta Mexicana (73.3%)
Sinfonietta
Dance Movements (71.3%)
Harrison’s Dream
Prelude, Siciliano, & Rondo (64.2%)
Trittico
English Folk Song Suite (82.7%)
Gavorkna Fanfare
George Washington Bridge
Scenes from the Louvre (53.3%)
Third Symphony (60.8%)
Ecstatic Waters
Symphonic Dance #3, “Fiesta” (87.0%)
Circuits
Symphony in Bb (83.5%)
Stormworks
Music for Prague 1968 (64.4%)
…And the Mountains Rising Nowhere
Terpsichore (53.2%)
Awayday
On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss (61.4%)
Suite of Old American Dances
Symphony #1, “Lord of the Rings” (77.2%)
Festival Variations
Stars and Stripes Forever (81.5%)
Zion
Elegy for a Young American (56.9%)
Sketches on a Tudor Psalm
Blue Shades (74.3%)
Barnum & Bailey’s Favorite
Russian Christmas Music (82.7%)
Paris Sketches
Asphalt Cocktail (51.2%)
Niagara Falls
An American Salute (54.6%)
Ride
Rocky Point Holiday (62.7%)
Chorale and Alleluia
Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night
Be Thou My Vision (56.6%)
October (86.7%)
Tunbridge Fair
Slava! (70.9%)
Southern Harmony
Of Sailors and Whales (59.2%)
The Divine Comedy
Thanks for voting! Round Two is going to be a lot tougher. To vote for Round Two, please click here.
Why So Serial?
By johnb on March 7th, 2012
Get the newest poster in the Tone Deaf Store, available today!
