Starting Your Own Blog

If you haven't already launched your blog, here are some basic instructions on how to go about it. To start your blog, go to Google's free blogging platform Blogger and follow the instructions to create a new blog.

1. Pick a theme that you might be interested in exploring, such as trumpet ensembles of South America; Brass Bands of Great Britain; or Collegiate Horn Choirs, etc. You will probably be prompted to name your blog, so base the name on your theme.

2. Not every post you create has to be related to your theme. They could be about the class, or another brass ensemble related idea, but in general think of your blog as public research and an online record of your exploration.

3. Be sure to send me the address (URL) of your blog so that I can link it to ABEL Central. In turn, you should add ABEL Central and your fellow students' blogs to your links list.

4. A post can be one or two paragraphs of opinion, review, or information about a course-related issue, artist, or work. I encourage you to embed images, but remember to indicate photo credit to images that are not yours. It is also fairly easy to embed video from YouTube or Vimeo. Audio isn't always so easy, but depending on your provider, or a link to an audio hosting site, it is possible.

5. Hyperlinks are essential. If you are discussing the American Brass Quintet, it is more interactive to provide a link to the American Brass Quintet. It should be fairly easy to learn how to do this in your blog.

6. Be sure to post an average of once per week, plus two longer posts for a total of at least 15 posts.

7. Also read each other's blogs, as well as ABEL central and subscribe to them so that you are notified when a new post or comment is added.

8. You may opt to make your blog private through your settings, which is fine, but make sure that everyone and the class and I have access to view it.

9. I encourage you to peruse student blogs from the past (listed on the right sidebar of this blog) as well as older posts of mine on ABEL central.

10. If you already have a blog or website, it is okay to use it for this purpose as long as it is clear and easy to find ABEL related posts.

Welcome Spring 2021 Students

Welcome to Advanced Brass Ensemble Literature. We will be meeting online via Zoom from 9:30 to 10:20am. I will use this course blog as a means of making announcements and as a resource in addition to a central hub with links to all of your course blogs. I will also be using the ICON site, mainly for scores and other course documents and grades.

Bugles in Military History

As this course is titled "Advanced Brass Ensemble Literature", when it comes to early historical information about brass instruments, I avoid discussing details about specific instruments and their development. Instead, I try to focus on brass ENSEMBLES and their music. 

 

In the record of early western music, prior to 1400, the vast majority of written music is sacred, due to the devoted and scholarly religious scribes who recorded it for posterity. Secular music, (such as dance music, folk music, love songs and lullabies) existed but was rarely written down and was passed down in the aural tradition or often improvised. Similarly, "ensembles" of ancient brass instruments existed for use in ceremonies, during war, for royalty, and long-distance communication. However, much of that music was not written down, or was monophonic or unison in nature and most likely learned aurally. It is for that reason I have not included much discussion of the bugle in the course until now. The video below, from the YouTube channel The History Guy provides an insightful examination of bugles, including the implication of groups of bugles throughout history.