Brass Band Template

Dorico
#1

Who designed the template? Do they know what a brass band is? It took Sibelius several versions to finally get it right - any chance that we won’t have to wait several years to get this right? Instrument formatting for standard British Brass Band should be as follows:-
Soprano Cornet Eb
Solo Cornet Bb
Repiano Cornet Bb
2nd Cornet Bb
3rd Cornet Bb

Flugelhorn

Solo Horn Eb
1st Horn Eb
2nd Horn Eb

1st Baritone Bb
2nd Baritone Bb

1st Trombone Bb (Treble clef)
2nd Trombone Bb (Treble clef)
Bass Trombone

Euphonium Bb

Eb Bass
Bb Bass

Timpani
Drum Kit

The spacing shows how the instruments in the score should be bracketed.

#2

I’ll have to check with Daniel, but I believe this template wasn’t specifically for British Brass Bands.

It’s a subject close to my heart - as I play in a brass band myself - so I will lobby to include this template on your behalf. :wink:

#3

Thanks Ben. I’ve never seen a Brass Band score that has Horns in F and all Troms in Bass clef. Warner Music included “world parts” a few years ago but their scores were always in standard BB format.

#4

Please do. The British brass band should be recognised as a serious and valuable ensemble form, and I look forward to seeing Dorico pride itself with a correct template, as outlined by thread starter.

#5

Have the test version of Dorico, and see now the thread concerning British Brass Bands.

For me this is a very important part. Unfortunately I have actiavted the Test periode on my Dongle. It seems that I can’t test the software in the right way.

I think Dorico is a great software, but unfortunately from my point of view very complicated, with many options to use. Currently I use the new Version from WaveLab, and Steinberg software is always the first choice for my needs. But with Dorico I have to spent many hours (or days; months …) to understand all the functions.

May be that this sounds a little bit stupid. Please forgive. Anyway, it’s probaly too late, because if the new Brass Band template will be available, the 30 days testphase expired. :frowning:

#6

With the exception of the default staff labels not being quite correct in 1.0.10, the British brass band template is now correct, with appropriate bracketing etc. The remaining problem with the staff labels not being quite correct will be addressed in the forthcoming 1.0.20 update.

#7

The brass band template in my 1.0.10 (I don’t see anything specifically labelled ‘British Brass Band’) still has horns in F (transposing as Horns in F) rather than Tenon Horns (in Eb), and 1st & 2nd Trombones are still in Bass Clef rather than transposing to Treble Clef Bb. Other transpositions seem to be correct.

I would like to see transpositions such that I can work with actual Bass Clef pitches for the Eb and Bb basses, and see these transposed to Treble clef in the transposing score. For those of us who only write occasionally for BB this would be a brain-cell saver!

#8

Hi, using the trial (for which many thanks!). File > New From Template > Band > Brass Band gives a score with 3 French horns in F instead of 3 tenor horns in Eb, and all trombones in bass clef instead of solo & 2nd in Bb treble. Cornets are named 1,2,3,4 rather than solo, rep, 1, 2.

On a related note, have imported an existing brass band project via musicXML. Have manually set each of the instruments, and set Engrave > Engraving Options > Brackets & Braces > British Brass Band, the two Bb tenor trombones aren’t bracketed together with the bass trombone as they should; is there a way to override this? (also the image in the bracketing menu shows all three trombones in bass clef).

Thanks!

#9

Thanks for the feedback. I will make sure that the first and second trombones are shown using treble clef. The horns, as far as I can tell, really are E flat instruments and not in F, but they will play back using French horn sounds because there are no tenor horn sounds provided with HSO.

#10

Hi, Daniel. The horn transposes as Horn in F in my template: C becomes G above. Is there a way that I can edit instruments to transpose as in my second paragraph above. Don’t mind doing the work, just don’t know where to start…

#11

You can certainly change the horns: in Setup mode, open the player card for the player holding the incorrect horn, then hover over the instrument held by the player such that the chevron > appears, then click Change Instrument and you should be able to choose an appropriate horn.

#12

Thanks. I did that in making my own BB template. I ended up with Solo Horn called ‘Solo Horn 1’, 1st Horn = ‘1st Horn 2’ and 2nd Horn = ‘2nd Horn 3’. I couldn’t see a way to remove the spurious - and confusing - numbering.
Screen Shot 2016-12-02 at 17.13.56.png
The paragraph I referred to concerned transpositions: “I would like to see transpositions such that I can work with actual Bass Clef pitches for the Eb and Bb basses, and see these transposed to Treble clef in the transposing score. For those of us who only write occasionally for BB this would be a brain-cell saver!”

Thanks for the speedy replies!

#13

The spurious numbering was, I thought, fixed in 1.0.10. Are you running the latest available version?

#14

My bad - I must have made that template on 1.0.0. I missed the fact that it was sorted.

Just the transposition problem then:-)

#15

Does any one have any VST Brass Band Plugins they can share, or point me where to get them?

Thanks

#16

The Garritan Concert and Marching Band (which plays via the Aria player) has all the brass band instruments. However, they are not all that wonderful.

#17

Sorry for the delay!

Thanks for that!

#18

Sorry to revive an old thread, but can instruct me where I can find the Bb Baritone using treble clef, please? I’ve tried both Baritone and Baritone horn, but they’re both in bass clef. Thanks in advance

#19

The instrument called ‘Baritone Horn’ should be treble clef. It is for me, at any rate!

#20

“Baritone Horn” is in bass clef for me. But you might use “Euphonium in Bb”, which is available in treble clef. You can rename it to “Baritone in Bb” if you want.

Thomas