Legacy (2018/19)
Brass Band Test Piece
Difficulty: 4
Duration: c.12 minutes
Publisher: Tom Davoren Music
The idea for 'Legacy' was originally conceived in 2018 as a short work celebrating the life and achievements of Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan and the 70th Anniversary of the British National Health Service. The work was commissioned by Tredegar Town Band, supported by funding from Ty Cerdd, and premiered in the Speaker's Room of the Houses of Parliament featuring their soprano cornet soloist, Ian Roberts. This test piece version, created for the 2020 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, was born from my desire to tell a more complete version of Bevan's story.
In three continuous sections 'Legacy' is not only symbolic of Bevan's aspirational politics and character, but also of the experience of anyone whose life has been impacted by our NHS; something of which I can speak of personally. The primary goal of the piece is to present bands with music that offers them the opportunity to create a performance with feeling as its driver. Whilst a sound foundation in technique is obviously required to achieve this convincingly, creating a complete emotional picture should be the primary concern of bands and conductors.
The opening represents a need waiting to be filled. Whilst the pace, rhythmic content, colour and dynamic layout of the music seeks to create an atmosphere of foreboding, the choice of interval, style and phrase length of the melody is designed to offer a constant sense of underlying assurance. The central section is very much the core of the piece, representing the balance of hope and adversity as experienced by anyone who has been touched directly by our NHS. Again, it's a pacing of tension through dynamic, orchestration and in intensity of execution, that seeks to create this feeling. The final section is a march to progress, representing Bevan's relentless championing of social justice. Hopefully fittingly, the music here is generated entirely from material born in the earlier sections of the piece.
'No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.' (Aneurin Bevan, 1952)
Tom Davoren (Cardiff / Brooklyn, 2019)
Duration: c.12 minutes
Publisher: Tom Davoren Music
The idea for 'Legacy' was originally conceived in 2018 as a short work celebrating the life and achievements of Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan and the 70th Anniversary of the British National Health Service. The work was commissioned by Tredegar Town Band, supported by funding from Ty Cerdd, and premiered in the Speaker's Room of the Houses of Parliament featuring their soprano cornet soloist, Ian Roberts. This test piece version, created for the 2020 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, was born from my desire to tell a more complete version of Bevan's story.
In three continuous sections 'Legacy' is not only symbolic of Bevan's aspirational politics and character, but also of the experience of anyone whose life has been impacted by our NHS; something of which I can speak of personally. The primary goal of the piece is to present bands with music that offers them the opportunity to create a performance with feeling as its driver. Whilst a sound foundation in technique is obviously required to achieve this convincingly, creating a complete emotional picture should be the primary concern of bands and conductors.
The opening represents a need waiting to be filled. Whilst the pace, rhythmic content, colour and dynamic layout of the music seeks to create an atmosphere of foreboding, the choice of interval, style and phrase length of the melody is designed to offer a constant sense of underlying assurance. The central section is very much the core of the piece, representing the balance of hope and adversity as experienced by anyone who has been touched directly by our NHS. Again, it's a pacing of tension through dynamic, orchestration and in intensity of execution, that seeks to create this feeling. The final section is a march to progress, representing Bevan's relentless championing of social justice. Hopefully fittingly, the music here is generated entirely from material born in the earlier sections of the piece.
'No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.' (Aneurin Bevan, 1952)
Tom Davoren (Cardiff / Brooklyn, 2019)
Legacy - Tom Davoren - Errata
The errata below has been sent to Kapitol for use by adjudicators at the 2020 Regional Championships. I'd like to say a big thank you to all who have asked questions and helped to form this list. Whilst any creator wants their work to be perfect from the get go, it's a significant challenge when the restraints of a set test piece contest mean you are unable to hear the piece in 'real life' before making available to the banding public.
If you've already written in and your point isn't addressed on this list, then the score / part is correct.
In meeting data protection regulations email addresses are not kept following purchases, but any band that makes a request to [email protected] will receive a freshly corrected score and parts as well as the errata list. Regional 2020 Adjudicators are instructed to work from the ORIGINAL score using the errata list to minimise any confusion. All newly purchased sets will be corrected on the parts and score.
B29 - 2nd and Bass Trombone - MF dynamic
B37 - Euphonium - F dynamic
B49 - 2nd Baritone - slurred semiquavers as in 1st Bari
B46 - Bass Trombone - C not Cb
B68 - Flugal - MP dynamic
B91 - Horn 1 and 2 - beat 1 and 2, slur as in previous bar
B100 & 101 - Soprano Cornet - should be muted in these bars open at B104
B141 - 3rd cornet - slur to beat 2
B151 - Timpani - should roll
B205 - Basses - slur as Eb
B209 - 1st Baritone - accents as 2nd Baritone
B222 - 2nd cornet - F dynamic
B225 - Vibraphone - MP dynamic
B226 - 2nd Baritone - MF dynamic
B227 - 1st Trombone - grace note is a type error, delete
B250 - 1st Baritone - accents as 2nd Baritone
B271 - Soprano - grace note is a type error, delete
B298 - Timpani - should be Bb pitch
Timpani General Point - if your bandroom or contest does not offer a large enough or suitably tunable instrument to reach the lowest pitches, then please use the octave above.