Instrument Improvements of the Nineteenth Century and the Effects on the Wind Band - Coursework Example

?1Instrument Improvements of the Early Nineteenth-Century and the Evolution of the Wind Band By: Mandee Howell Wind instruments have been around for centuries, since before the time of Christ. The first examples of any type of musical instruments were flutes from the Upper Paleolithic Period (30,000-10,000 B.C.).1 The flutes that existed before the time of Christ look basically the same as flutes today, minus the additional keys that were added in the early 1800's. Wind instruments have been used for various purposes throughout the course of history, including weddings, funerals, town square announcements, intruder warnings, royal coronations, accompanying church music, hunting calls, and even coordinating military movements. There have been many different versions of wind instruments as they too have slowly evolved and improved with the passage of time. It is the intention of this paper to demonstrate how the invention of modern day wind instruments helped to bring the wind band out of the realm of pure functionality, and into the realm of artistic expression. Through the additions and improvement of modern wind instruments, the wind band is becoming another respected art medium. It was through the work of European wind instrument makers that all of the wind instruments gained the ability to play chromatic notes, allowing them to play melodies, and gradually changing the role of the wind band from one of functionality to artistic expression. In this paper, it is argued, wind band while attaining this status by way of instrument improvements, facilitated better scope for individual performance within the band without sacrificing the element of harmony and this was what contributed to the growth of wind bands as an artistic medium. Background The proposition that “invention and development” led to wind bands entering “musical life” in a big way, is an acknowledged fact.2 The major developments in this realm have been, the invention of saxophone, use of pistons in brass instruments, use of pistons in wood wind instruments, improvements made to the clarionet “by bass and contrabass”, development of a new form of oboe by incorporating “contrafaggotto”, and the emergence of the new brass instruments “in the lower bass section.”3 These changes and improvements were either effected simply by enthusiastic innovators or were made on demand from the master composers in order to meet their creative requirements.4 Above four thousand patents for innovations were allocated in France alone in the nineteenth century and among them, piano and wind instruments were the majority.5 In general, it was to “bridge over the long gaps and intervals between […] [the] open notes that all systems of valves, slides and keys are intended.6 This enhanced the quality of the music being produced and provided wind band music with an added dimension of individualism. Theobald Boehm The earlier existing forms of wind instruments were so under-developed that the creation of harmony using them was a near impossibility.7 In the early nineteenth century, European instrument makers were hard at work trying to devise a way to improve the tuning of wind instruments. The keyed bugle was the invention in the series of improvements to wind instruments and the inventor was Joseph Halliday to whom the product was patented.8 Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) was born in Germany and was “a professional flautist who became dissatisfied with the tone quality and imperfect mechanism of the old-style conical bore flute.”9 He decided to redesign his own flute after hearing a concert given by Charles Nicholson in London.10 Boehm was impressed by Nicholson's powerful tone drawn from his large-holed flute. In 1832, Boehm emerged from his shop in Munich with a new large-holed conical bore flute that incorporated interlocking rings with which to cover the 14 newly placed tone holes.11 Boehm did not start making cylindrical flutes until 1847 after studying and applying the science of acoustics to his instrument making.12 It would be another number of years of tweaking and refining this new system until we begin to see Boehm system flutes identical to those we see today. Through his work, Theobald Boehm became the “inventor of the modern flute.”13Theobald, “in addition to his musical skills”, was a goldsmith and ironmaster by profession.14 His new fingering system for flute was very slow to pick up among musicians just because of the difficulty involved in learning a new system.15 Boehm, after inventing his new flute, also wrote extensively for the instrument.16 Availability of new compositions suitable for the instrument was one factor that gradually catalyzed the popularity of this instrument among musicians.17 The compositions written by Boehm exclusively for flute include, “studies, duets, variations and other salon pieces, a concerto and a grand polonaise.”18 Hyacinthe Klose Hyacinthe Klose was a French clarinettist who took the idea of the interlocking ring system from Theobald Boehm and applied it to the clarinet with the help of August Buffet, Jr.19 Clarinets previously contained only five keys, which did not enable them to play in every key.20 Ivan Mueller is credited with producing a 13-keyed model in 1810, which permitted clarinettists to play in any key.21 However, Klose amazed Europe with his technical prowess on this new Boehm system clarinet.22 The Boehm clarinet is the most popular clarinet in use today. The most convenient feature of Klose’s clarinet from a player’s point of view was that “The fundamental scale is produced by raising successive fingers, eliminating forked fingerings which were a feature of all previous (and most subsequent) clarinets.23 This improvisation made the instrument easier to play and thus attracted more students for the same. Klose later wrote a method book for fellow clarinettists to learn the new fingering system, a method book that is still in use today.24 The basic method of fingering put forth by Klose was: When resolving to the tonic, leading notes should ideally be as sharp as possible, similarly if they occur in a melody as part of a concerto or solo. […] Klose provided a ‘Table of altered or leading notes and the degrees on which they are found’. However, in ensemble or orchestral performance Klose suggested that the normal fingerings be used in order better to blend with the other instruments. 25 Even the string techniques practiced by virtuoso violinists were found counterparts in clarinet, once the clarinet devised by Klose became popular thereby imparting space for individual creativity in the playing of this instrument.26 It is observed: The present key mechanism appears to meet all technical requirements of the modern score. Additional trill, duplicate and extra ring keys, none of which add new tones, are contrivances attached for the more convenient operation of the original thirteen keys, to facilitate performance of many otherwise very difficult, if not impossible, passages, have come into use […]. Credit for them is mainly attributable to Klose’s attempt to adapt the Boehm system for flute to the requirements of the clarionet.27 Adolphe Sax Adolphe Sax is responsible for several wind instrument improvements in the nineteenth century and his son Antonie Sax is credited with the creation of all kinds of brass wind-instruments as per precise “scientific principles”. 28 Antonie Sax thus achieved exact “intonation”, standardized tone, and standardized design among different brass wind-instruments.29 The Eb contra alto clarinet developed by Sax was reported by band musicians as a very “successful” instrument.30 The contributions of Adolphe Sax to bass clarinet include: (1) large tone holes with corresponding key heads; (2) wide bore to create a deep and strong tone quality; (3) large finger holes covered by conveniently placed wide plateau and open standing keys; (4) the placement of the first register key on a raised metal platform and the second register key with a small pinhole on a metal platform on the front side of the brass crook; (5) use of a large brass, rounded saddle to secure the long livers of the F#/C# and E/B keys; (6) redesign of a large-size mouthpiece with a socket having a brass ferrule at its end, requiring a large reed and a two-screw brass ligature; (7) redesign of key heads in a flat and rounded form; (8) inclusion of a large brass thumb rest with a ring attached to the upper end, designed for a neck strap.31 The benefits of these changes and additions were that they “led to greater resonance of sound, evenness of tone, security in blowing, security in fingering, and accuracy of intonation.”32 Clarinetists like Edouard Duprez rose to individual fame playing the bass clarinets developed by Sax.33 Sax himself was very good at playing the clarinets developed by him and he even “played bass clarinet solo in the royal wind band in the orchestra of the Socie’te’ Philharmonique.34 Sax got the patent for Saxaphone in 1846.35 The unique features of saxophone enabled it to produce music with great “range, volume and robustness.”36It was very much suitable for military bands.37 The French army and the Emperor’s Military House ordered many of the instruments designed by Sax from him.38 In twentieth century, Jazz musicians made use of this instrument in their performances and raised it to great artistic value.39 Heinrich David Stoelzel Around the same time Theobald Boehm began his work on redesigning the flute, another German instrument maker, Heinreich David Stonlzel, was in the midst of another important invention.40 Heinrich David Stoelzel was the man who initiated the work for an alternative to the crude practice of inserting the player’s fist or crooks “into the bell of” the instrument to “increase the range.”41 He “added two tubular valves to a horn” and enabled the player to “alter the length of piping (and thus the sound) without resorting to fist or crook.”42 Through this invention, this German musician was credited with the invention of the tubular piston valve.43 Before the invention of valves, brass players could only play the fundamental notes of each partial. Although, partials get closer together the higher up in range you play, it was nearly impossible to play a complete scale on a brass instrument. Valves gave brass players the ability to play chromatic notes in between every partial, and thus the ability to play not only harmonies, but melodies as well. Changes: social and cultural The changes that were happening in the field of wind instrumentation had its impact on the society as a whole. Instruments which were hitherto considered accessible to the aristocracy alone became commonplace.44This was a result of the inventions and innovations made in the design of these instruments that improved their musical quality and also the ease of playing.45 To be more precise, “it was the invention of the piston valve system and its application to brass instruments […] [that became] the principle reason why a large, working class, brass band movement came into existence.”46 Trevor Herbert has divided the period in which wind bands grew in prominence into three distinct segments, the first being the “opening years of the nineteenth century and ends at about the time when Victoria came to the throne” when Europe saw the brass band movement.47 The second period is between 1840 and 1860 and third starts from 1860 when the wind band movement became a very strong movement.48 It is further observed by Herbert that it was in the second phase of this third period that “the working classes […] [became] vital participants in what was, at the very least, a consensual partnership between organized working people and entrepreneurs.”49 Instead of aristocratic patronage, thus popular support became the vital force that enabled the bands to survive and progress.50 Along with this, military bands, church bands and village bands flourished.51 It was a habit of “travelling show bands” to display “conspicuously”, a selected few professional and skilled brass players of their bands.52 This was another instance when individual performance rose above the group effort and paved way to imparting greater artistic value to the wind band performances. For example, Tournaire’s Circus had a “musical clown” who gave amazing brass performances.53 The cornet player, Koenig, the ophicleide player, Prospe’re, the brass player, Thomas Harper, and the members of Distin family, were some other musical performers who made their individual imprint on this art form.54 The number of music professionals grew in huge scales as is evident from the following description given by Herbert, “During the nineteenth century, the population of Britain doubled, but the number of people who made their living from music increased sevenfold. An important element of this development was the increase in music education at all levels.”55 This gave ample space for individual talents to develop and win public attention. As the public acceptance of the wind bands grew, “instrument makers, who often worked alone in small workshops began to be supplanted by large firms, using a range of industrial processes.”56 This made the instruments inexpensive and accessible to more people. The formalities and financial involvement required to be a musician was drastically reduced and this resulted in the emergence of talented individual musicians who needed only creative abilities and hard work to shine rather than patronage. Parallel to the accessibility of instruments, there was also a movement to standardize instruments. Patrick S. Gilmore Patrick S. Gilmore was a Irish-American cornettist and directed many bands in NE including the Boston Brigade Band.57 He started his own entertainment bands which were in those times against the aristocratic tradition of music performances.58 Gilmore was a proponent of “musical eclecticism” and his many predecessors also followed suit.59 This attitude was in tune with the urge to embrace everything new in wind music, an urge empowered by the improvisations in wind instruments. As early as in 1859, Gilmore had introduced “woodwinds into his Boston Brass Band.”60 In a contest between Ned Kendall and Patrick Gilmore, the efficiency of cornet piston as against bugle key was displayed beyond doubt.61 Gilmore conducted “monstor concerts” and as his popularity grew, toured the US giving concerts for almost twenty years.62 It is observed that “Gilmore’s contributions in advancing and sustaining an American musical culture became so widespread that he became recognized as the most traveled, most cosmopolitan, and best informed bandmaster of his day.”63 The stage tricks used by Gilmore to attract the audiences included “instrumental “duels” between his temperamental soloists”, and “monumental musical projects” that are in accordance with his passion, “bigger is better.”64 Such “monster concerts” provided for greater variety thereby facilitating group performances sprinkled with enchanting individual ones. Each member of the band was thus motivated to achieve a unique position whereby he/she could stand apart in a monster orchestra and still be a part of it. Gilmore’s contribution to wind bands was to create and reinforce a creative space and artistic reverence for this medium of art. Being a good businessman, Gilmore could bring the wind band music to a pedestal from where nobody could banish it by branding it as marching music or cheap popular music. By featuring “brilliant virtuoso solos”, performed by the band’s best players as well as by famous “guest artists”, Gilmore’s band raised the band performer into an artist by himself.65 The fine-tuned instruments in their hands became magical tools that could perform melody or rhythmic counterparts of it. The “presentation of vernacular and cultivated music side-by-side” was a courageous decision on part of Gilmore and his contemporary wind bandmasters but it was through this transitional stage that wind bands rose to the status of a full-fledged art medium. Wilhelm Friedrich Weiprecht Wilhelm Friedrich Weiprecht (1802-72) was a “Prussian bandmaster” and he was the one who redesigned the Prussian military bands by using improved instruments and better synchronization.66 He is remembered for “his innovations in valved-brass-instruments.”67 Weiprecht in 1839, worked along with Berlin court maker, Eduard Skorra to create the “first playable contra bass clarinet.”68 A patent was awarded to them in the same year for developing “a C contra bass clarinet called a batyphon..”69 The “ease of performance” of this instrument was widely accepted then.70 The first ever piston similar to the present day pistons was designed by Weiprecht and these pistons came to be known as “Berlin pistons.”71 As more and more “refined designs of bass clarinets became available”, there also arose a demand for “skilled performers” thereby imparting a better role for individual performers in a wind band.72 Wieprecht invented the F tuba in 1835 and he used them in his “monster concerts.”73 He was called by his adorers as the “German Sousa.”74 He was also the one who designed the acoustical pyramid for standard instrumentation.75 Many composers were attracted to these new instruments and wanted to explore their possibilities by “writing demanding solos in opera arias, stage pieces, and orchestral works and as an accompanying or obbligato instrument in vocal arias.”76 By the end of nineteenth century, the bass clarinet became an inevitable presence in opera orchestras and symphony orchestras.77 The way the instrument improvements enhanced the role of individual players in a band performance can be seen in the example of the “difficult and lengthy virtuoso bass clarinet solo” incorporated into his opera, Emma d’ Antiochia, by Saverio Mercadante in 1834.78 Another example was, Giacomo Meyerbeer using the bass clarinet as a “solo and obbligato instrument”, an instance very important in the history of bass clarinets, just because this set a precedence for other composers to give emphasis to the use of bass clarinet solos.79 Such solos were made possible by the instrument improvement alone as in the place of clarinets with lesser keys, the Boehm system brought in 17 to 22 keys.80 Major composers like, Mercadante, Meyerbeer, Verdi and Wagner wrote many compositions for bass clarinet by imparting an artistic aura to this improved instrument and famous clarinetists like Carl Baermann made an individual imprint on the role of this instrument.81 John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa was yet another musician, a violinist, who made maximum use of the instrument improvements and in this process, he mixed “tinkling comedy with symphonic tragedy or rhythmic march with classic tone-picture.”82 He was described as the “March King” just because he made amazing music for marches, and his was the only self-financing band in that period.83He was also called the ““Dickens of Music”, the “Kipling of Music”, the “Berlioz of the Military Band”, the “Knight of the Baton” and so forth.”84 Sousa directed the US Marine Corps Band and he transcribed classical works for his band to augment the limited repertoire.85 The “principles of instrumentation and tone coloring” of Sousa have been a great influence on the great composers who followed him in history.86 Even one musical instrument was named after him, the Sousaphone, “the first one” of which was created as per the “specifications” given by Sousa himself.87The Conn Corporation, a major musical instrument manufacturer, depended heavily on Sousa to develop their instruments.88 The music genre, ragtime, which was the predecessor of Jazz, was taken up by Sousa, performed to the huge applause of American audience and later popularized in Europe.89 His talent of “perfect pitch” enabled him to compose his music pieces “without the aid of […] any […] musical instrument.”90 Edwin Franko Goldman Edwin Franko Goldman was a cornettist who founded the Goldman Band in New York in 1911, founded the American Bandmasters’ Association, and was well-known for commissioning big name composers to write for his band in order to expand the wind repertoire.91 The composers who wrote for him include, Peter Mennin, Vincent Persichetti, Howard Hanson and Paul Creston.92 His band was the first ever band in the US to have presented a “program of all original wind band music.”93 Goldman played an important role in forming the “collaborative movement” by which “a vibrant wind band repertoire” was created.94 Drawing from all his predessors who refined and developed the wind instruments, Goldman materialized their real time application by founding the New York Military Band.95 He had a great vision regarding the future of the wind bands and he wrote: Bands in general are looked upon as something very inferior to the orchestra. Most people (including critics) consider them a medium for parades, picnics, Fourth of July celebrations and the like. They scarcely ever consider them from purely musical angles. The band is not inferior to the orchestra. It is simply different. And there is no reason in the world why a band should not play as artistically as an orchestra, given the same type of musicians, the same amount of rehearsing, and a fine conductor.96 This vision was what enabled Goldman to stand at the culmination point of all the instrument improvements that nineteenth century saw and he became the first ever musician to reap all the benefits in heaps. Future The debate on the merit-based comparison of vernacular music with the artistic music continues. When compared to an orchestra, the advantages of a wind ensemble can be many: In the band, however, the general enlargement of flute, clarinet, and trumpet sections allows for harmonic possibilities within one timbre not possible in the generic orchestral instrumentation. This provides adequate power for a section not only to carry the melodic line above the rest of the ensemble, but also allows for harmonic support within the same section. With careful use of all sections it has become possible for the band to include not only a powerful sound, but also to escape the stereotype of a thick, dull homogeneous sound for one of clarity, refinement, and grace. 97 The prominence that melodic line gets above the harmonic unity at times can have a dramatic effect on the listeners. It is again this individual line of performance that makes the wind bands stand distinct from orchestra all the same commanding the same harmonic quality of them as a whole. The university wind ensembles in Europe and the US are renowned for their artistic finesse.98 The wind bands continue to have a deep influence on the cultural ethos of the nation and are no more cast away as makers of functional music. They play a wide range of repertoire ranging from “Star-Spangled Banner” to “Hindersmith’s Symphony in B-flat” and are still viewed as expressions of high art.99 Conclusions From the above discussion, it becomes clear that the wind instrumentation improvements of early nineteenth century not only helped wind bands to evolve, develop to the status of orchestra performances, but also to give space to individual finesse to sparkle inside the harmony of the band music created. As the innovations improved the melodious quality of each and every wind instrument, more and more people got attracted to learn to use them, thereby making wind band players a huge professional group. The emergence of such a big group into the scene inevitably resulted in enormous experimentation with the instruments and their organization. As the examples of Gilmore and Goldman exhibited, the century-long process of improvements manifested as results towards the middle of 20th century and wind ensembles gained independent artistic status. The wind ensembles all over the world continue to use the instruments which are basically derived from Boehm’s flute, Sax’s saxophone, and Weiprecht’s clarinet. The quantum jump innovations that they made to wind instruments have been left unparalleled in the succeeding history of wind instruments. By shifting the production of these instruments into an industrial frame work, these innovators enabled these instruments to be affordable for ordinary citizens and thus allowed them to grow as individual performers who add great charm to the wind ensembles. 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Weston, Pamela. 2007-12. “Hyacinthe Eleonore Klose.” Grove Music Online. http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.read.cnu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/15164 (accessed April 22, 2012). Westphal, Frederick W. Guide to Teaching Woodwinds. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 1990. Whitwell, David. A Concise History of the Wind Band. St. Louis, MO: Shattinger Music Company, 1985. Read More