rEpertoire RESOURCES
Choosing music is the single most important thing a band director can do, and is the only thing a band director can do alone. Frederick Fennell
James bennett II: where are all the concert band classics?
Blog Post | 2019
A recent blog post by a staff writer for WQXR, New York City’s classical music radio station, provides a brief and honest glimpse into the history and current state of the concert band repertoire. Bennett asks, and summarily answers, important questions about the “the cultural reasons that leave us with a dearth of ‘iconic’ wind music” with the aid of quotes from conductor Jasmine Britt.
STephen budiansky: THE Kids play great. but that music…
Article | 2005
A thought-provoking Washington Post article in which a renowned author questions repertoire selection in public school large ensembles from his perspective as a parent and frequent concert attender.
Rob deemer: The composer diversity database
Online Database | 2018-present
Deemer is a composer, educator, author, and arts advocate, whose extensive and user-friendly online database won the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Media/Internet Award. Housed at SUNY Fredonia, this interactive database supports the purpose of the Institute for Composer Diversity: “The promotion and advancement of music created by composers from historically underrepresented groups including women, composers of color, LGBTQIA+ composers, and composers with disabilities.”
Jeff Girard: Wind band database
Online Database | 1998-present
Girard is the wind band specialist for Midwest Sheet Music, a popular retailer amongst conductors and music educators. This free database reflects years of research and first-hand dealings with a wide variety of repertoire requests. It is comprised of over 150 spreadsheets, each of which represents a category ranging from themes (i.e. “Italy”) to specific sub-genres (i.e. intermediate clarinet solos). Spreadsheets include title, composer, publisher, recording links, and cost.
Andy pease: wind band literature
Blog | 2008-present
Pease maintains one of the most active blogs about wind repertoire. Each entry is tagged for ease of access; most entries highlight a specific work and include program notes, performances on Youtube, and a wealth of beneficial links for further study.
nikk pilato: The wind repertory project
Online Database | 2008-present
Pilato’s extensive and user-friendly database features searchable and easy-to-access information on the vast majority of works written for winds. It functions as a sort of wikipedia of the wind repertoire, and is ever-growing thanks to user-submitted content. The entry for a given work usually includes information about the composer, dates, publication, duration, program notes, recordings, instrumentation, errata, difficulty, and categorical data for classification.
Tim Reynish: Repertoire
Website | 2012-present
English conductor and scholar Tim Reynish is one of the most active advocates for wind repertoire on the international scene. His informative website offers substantial essays and program notes on a variety of historical and recent works, particularly those by European composers. The repertoire section is organized into the following sections: composers, repertoire by country, concertos, commissions, chamber music, programme notes, categories, premieres, and programming. Reynish also includes bibliographies and helpful links to publishers’ and composers’ websites.
Clifford Towner: AN EVALUATION OF COMPOSITIONS FOR WIND BAND ACCORDING TO SPECIFIC CRITERIA OF SERIOUS ARTISTIC MERIT: A SECOND UPDATE
Dissertation | 2011
This valuable dissertation represents the most recent study of its kind. Towner identifies 144 works that met the criteria for "serious artistic merit" based on an expert, 18-member panel of evaluators. Andrew Putnam subsequently compiled duration and instrumentation information for each work. Corey Seapy formatted and edited this data in a sortable Google sheet, and Isaac Brinberg assembled a corresponding YouTube playlist.
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