BALLYGOWAN FLUTE BAND
Our Music
During an average year the band plays a very wide range of
music, and summarising this into a sentence or two is not easy. We play marches
of course - not only on the street but in concerts and on the contest platform.
We play all sorts of music in concerts and entertainment contests e.g. light classical, Irish and other
traditional, and music from the movies - generally any music that the general
public will recognise and love.
We also turn over quite a range of classical music. The brass, concert/military and accordion bands can buy
all the test piece music they need, because there has always been a worldwide market for
them to choose from - not so
for flute bands! In the early 20th century our representatives turned to the
classics for contest test pieces. The pioneers would have put their experience
and knowledge to good use by transcribing music from the
masters (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn to name but a few). In recent
years our contest test pieces have included music by Mussorsky, Britten, Dukas,
Smetna, Copeland, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Verde - the list is endless. Indeed it
would be difficult to challenge any claim that the degree of contact with
classical music that a young championship flute band person could experience, is unlikely to
be surpassed in any other band movement.
To name some of these arrangers/transcribers is to fail to name others who have contributed
immensely,
yet some names do come to the fore. From the early days, the best were
undoubtedly John Murdie, Billy Blythe and Harry Gillespie, and from more recent
times David Heaney, Frank Browne and Mark Douglas.
Flute bands are supposed to play marches - and why not? Surely there is no better foot-tapper known to man! Here are some examples of marches we play (or have played) - click the composer's name for more information:
| Kenneth J. Alford (England) | The Middy, Colonel Bogey, Army of the Nile, The Mad Major, On the Quarter Deck, Holyrood, The Thin Red Line, Eagle Squadron |
| John Philip Sousa (USA) | The Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis, King Cotton, The Liberty Bell, Washington Post, |
| Carl Teike (Germany) | Old Comrades, Steadfast and True |
| Herman L. Blankenburg (Germany) | Gladiators' Farewell, Action Front, Flying Eagle, My Regiment, True Comrades in Arms |
| Julius Fucik (Czech Republic) | Entry of the Gladiators, Florintiner, Children of the Regiment |
| William Love (Northern Ireland) | Moore Street, Hub of the North, The Massed Parade |
| Krier & Helmer (France) | Le Reve Passe |
| Arnold Safroni (England) | Imperial Echoes |
| Josef Wagner (Austria) | Under the Double Eagle |
| Johann Strauss 1 (Austria) | Radetsky |
| Edwin Eugene Bagley (U.S.A.) | National Emblem |
| Rudolf Herzer (Germany) | Hoch Heidecksburg |
| Abe Holzmann (U.S.A.) | Blaze Away |
| Wilhelm Zehle (Germany) | Wellington |
| Claudio Grafulla (U.S.A.) | Washington Grays |
| Jaime Texidor (Spain) | Amparito Roca |
| Ernst Urbach (Germany) | Through Bolts & Bars |
| Paul Lincke (Germany) | Father Rhine |
| Leo R. Stanley (England) | The Contemptibles |
| Ron Goodwin (England) | Aces High |
| Robert B. Hall (U.S.A.) | Death or Glory |
| Frederick E. Bigelow (USA) | Our Director |
| Guido Deiro (Italy) | Sharpshooters |
| W.H. Turpin (England) | Roehampton |
| A.H. Perrin (Northern Ireland) | The Pacer |
| Nowowieski (Poland) | Under Freedoms Flag |
Performing Rights
We have a mounted certificate on the Bandroom wall from The Performing Rights
Society, thanking us for our long-standing support for those who make their
living from their music, and whose music we play.