With a growing number of requests for music from The Great War ( 1914 - 1918 ), what I have lised below are some suggestions that bands might use in 2018 to commerate the centenary.
This list will increase throughout 2018 as more publications are in the pipeline - and as other suitable works occur to me.
Any suggestions for works to be included in this listing, please email sales@justmusicuk.com
Categories: Music from the First World War, SUMMER 2020 SALE TITLES Composer: Philip Wilby
Normally £30.00 - only £24.95 in our SALE
Commemoration for Brass Band ( with optional organ )was composed in 2018.
Originally part of a longer work, I prepared this short memorial piece at the suggestion of Nicholas Childs to mark Rememberance-Tide in general at the centenary of World War One in particular.
Fromed from an unbroken crescendo, the music starts with a distant cornet solo, and climaxes with the sounds of THe Last Post, played in tribute to the fallen from all wars past and present.
Categories: NEW & RECENT Publications, Music from the First World War Composer: Dan Price
Commissioned in 2014 by the Flowers Band and premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival in the same year, Dear Old Blighty is a creative arrangement of songs popular in 1914 and of those released during the World War I period. These songs were used to help boost morale both at home and in the trenches being performed by the popular singers of the day. Although not patriotic songs in the strictest sense they are commonly described as ‘the songs that won the war’.
The selection includes; There’s a Long Long Trail, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, Oh! It’s a Lovely War, I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now?, Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag, Daisy Bell, and Keep the Home Fires Burning, all cleverly tailored together in the composers recognisably distinctive style.
Categories: MARCHES, FILM BRASSED OFF, Music from the First World War Composer / arranger: R.B. Hall
Please note that there is no score available with this work - traditionally, conductors use a cued solo cornet part to rehearse this march - click on MORE DETAILS to view.
This music was featured in the now famous film BRASSED OFF.
Categories: Music from the First World War, MARCHES Composer: Matt Arranger: Gregor Grant
Please note that there is no score published for this work. Historically, conductors have used a cued Solo Cornet part to rehearse and perform with – click on MORE DETAILS to view.
Category: Music from the First World War Composer: Dan Price
Grade 3.0
Commissioned in 2014 by the 2nd Rossendale Scout Band, Flanders Fields was composed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I also known as the Great War.
It is a reflective work which uses a hymn as its basis, infusing the sound of bugle calls and marching drums to convey the impression of a conflict rather than depicting a specific battle.
Narration can be included in this work to add to its overall effectiveness.
Category: Music from the First World War Composer: Gavin Somerset
3rd Section +
Many are familiar with the ever popular poem, 'In Flanders Fields' written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during the first World War. The poem tells of the fields strewn with crosses where fallen soldiers had been laid to rest. The opening stanza states "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row,". These words form the foundation on which this music was composed. The music pulls on the varying emotions one might feel if you journeyed through the fields and will leave your audience in little doubt of the sadness, bravery and honour, which those who fell in the Great War endured.
Categories: Music from the First World War, LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC Composer: Philip Sparke
Grade 4 Duration 8:25
In Memoriam: For the Fallen was commissioned by Bolsover District Council for the Bolsover Brass Summer School 2014.
It is a setting for narrator and band of Laurence Binyon’s (1869-1943) poem, For the Fallen, which was first published in The Times in September 1914. Binyon was dismayed at the outbreak of war and especially concerned by the large number of casualties suffered by the British Expeditionary Force in the early months of the battle on the Western Front. Too old to enlist, he volunteered as a hospital orderly in France. The poem is known world-wide as the famous fourth stanza (They shall grow not old…) has become a regular part of Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day services.
In Memoriam: For the Fallen is a musical accompaniment to the poem, shadowing the mood of each stanza.
Category: Music from the First World War Composer: Frank Bridge Arranger: Paul Hindmarsh
Duration 4.00
Paul Hindmarsh writes :
The English composer Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941) did not take an active part in the First World War However, he was devastated by the slaughter on the western and the eastern fronts, especially the loss of so many of his musician friends and colleagues. Writing in 1963, his former pupil Benjamin Britten confessed that "a lot of my feelings about the First World War which people seemed to see in the War Requiem came from Dridge. He had written a piano sonata in mermory of a friend killed in France and though he didn't encourage me to take a stand for the sake of a stand, he did make me argue and argue. His own pacifism was not aggressive, but typically gentle"
Categories: Music from the First World War, SUMMER 2020 SALE TITLES Composer: Chris Bond
Duration: 4m46s Difficulty: Intermediate
Normally £24.95 - only £19.95 in our Spring Sale - limited stock.
Lest We Forget is a phrase added as a final line at the end of the Ode of Remembrance, taken from Laurence Binyon's poem, For the Fallen, first published in The Times Newspaper in September 1914. Providing the title for this work for brass band, the piece aims to combine both the acoustic nature of the brass band medium alongside narrated passages and pre-recorded extracts to provide a moving tribute.
The words originally spoken by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in 1914 can be narrated in performance. However, a free audio download, manipulated to sound like a 1914 radio broadcast is available from the download section of this site.
Lest We Forget received its premiere in The Sage on November 17th 2014 performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band conducted by Robert Childs. The work opened their winning Brass in Concert programme and can be heard in full on their CD 'Grimethorpe Entertain' available to buy here.
Categories: TV&Shows, Music from the First World War Arranger: Edrich Siebert
Selection of First World War tunes - Contains : 1. Oh ! It's a Lovely War 2. It's a Long Way to Tipperary 3. When This Lousy War is Over 4. Mademoiselle from Armentieres 5. There's a Long, Long Trail a -Winding 6. Rule Britannia
Please note that there is no full score available for this publication. As was standard practice for the period in time in which this music was first published, a cued solo cornet part is used by the conductor to reherase and perform with.
Categories: Music from the First World War, MARCHES Composer: Teike Arranger: Norman Richardson
March Card size - please note that there is no full score for this work. Traditionally conductors have used a cued Solo Cornet part to rehearse with - click on MORE DETAILS to view.
Category: Music from the First World War Composer: Kevin Bell
Duration: 7′ 15″
It is 4.15am on 8th August 1918, and a British soldier waits for the whistle which will send him ‘over the top’ and into battle.
Beginning with the Battle, entering a dream-like section as our hero advances forwards, followed by random skirmishes, before Battle ends and we enter a lyrical reflective section where the soldiers thoughts turn to home.
Finally a lone cornet heralds a tribute to the Fallen, and answered by the euphonium, calls for hope for a new dawn and a better world. There is an optional narration from our soldier before the piece starts, and also his reflections of war and home after the battle is over, however the piece is written to be played with or without narration.
This piece by Kevin Bell has it all: excitement, surprise, reflection and hope.
Categories: Music of BRUCE FRASER, Music from the First World War Arranger: Bruce Fraser
Duration 4.10 A medlley of well known tunes from the First World War - The Great War.
Description : This great foot tapping march like medley starts solemnly, with the cornet section playing Reveille in unison, this leads directly into PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES, followed by a lively and cheeky rendering of MADEMOISELLE ARMENTIER , which offers sections of the band the opportunity to sing or play the tune - "INKY, PINKY, PARLEY VOO " ! HELLO, HELLO- WHO'S YOUR LADY FRIEND ? is next followed by KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING. IT'S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY is the main melody with PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES cleverly interlaced as a counter melody to conclude the work. For concert use, this work has an optional ending - the LAST POST is performed by a Solo Cornet over a pp side drum roll.
Highly recommended and playable by 4th. section bands upwards.
Performance Suggestions
1.The opening “Reveille” can either be performed by a single Solo Cornet player OR the entire Cornet
Section, as in the score – perhaps standing facing the audience.
2.The SINGING at letter C (Mademoiselle from Armentiere ) is entirely optional.
3.If you choose to SING the tune, you can either sing in UNISON for simplicity’s sake, or with a bit more
rehearsal time, sing in harmony – either way your audience will love it !
4.The tune Mademoiselle from Armentiere at letter C, can be performed with OR without the repeat.
If you use the repeat, it is suggested that the band PLAY first time through and SING on the repeat.
5.You can choose to end the piece at bar 200 – letter J – OR finish your performance with the coda of
“The Last Post”.
6.If you use “ The Last Post” ending, an effective way to do this would be to use an “off stage” cornet
Category: Music from the First World War Arranger: Dean Jones
Duration: 8.00
Difficulty: C
Includes :
01. Good Bye Dolly Gray 02. It's A Long Way to Tipperary 03. Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag 04. Over There 05 Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty
GOOD-BYE DOLLY GRAY (Words by Will D. Cobb and Music by Paul Barnes) Although the song was written during the Spanish-American war of 1898, it was sung by soldiers of the British Empire during the Boer War in 1899 to 1902. The song was also popular among troops during World War One.
IT'S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY (Words and Music by Jack Judge and Harry Williams) The song was allegedly written for a 5 shilling bet in Stalybridge on 30 January 1912 and performed the next night at the local music hall. Judge's parents were Irish, and his grandparents came from Tipperary. It became popular among soldiers in the First World War and is remembered as a song of that war. During the First World War, Daily Mail correspondent George Curnock saw the Irish regiment the Connaught Rangers singing this song as they marched through Boulogne on 13 August 1914 and reported it on 18 August 1914. The song was quickly picked up by other units of the British Army.
PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES IN YOUR OLD KIT BAG (Words by George Asaf and Music by Felix Powell) "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile" is the full name of a World War One marching song. It was written by George Henry Powell under the pseudonym of "George Asaf", and set to music by his brother Felix Powell. A play presented by the National Theatre recounts how these music hall stars rescued the song from their rejects pile and re-scored it to win a wartime competition for a marching song. It became very popular, boosting British morale despite the horrors of that war. It was one of a large number of music hall songs aimed at maintaining morale, recruiting for the forces, or defending Britain's war aims.
OVER THERE (Words and Music by George M Cohan) The song "Over There" was one of the most famous songs of World War I. It proved to be an inspiration both to the young men who were being sent to fight the war as well as to those on the home-front who worried about their loved ones. The song is about the "Yanks" (i.e. Americans) going "over there" (i.e. across the Atlantic) to help fight the "Huns" (i.e. the Germans) during World War I.
TAKE ME BACK TO DEAR OLD BLIGHTY (Words and Music by A.J. Mills, Fred Godfrey and Bennett Scott) Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty — a phrase so famous that it finds a place in the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations — was a favourite of the British Tommies on the Western Front. "Blighty" is a British English slang term for Britain. It was first used during the Boer War, though it was not until World War One that the word spread widely.
A = very easy B = easy C = medium D = difficult E = very difficult
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