Program NotesLocation (grandparent | parent | this page): RodMer Arts Home Page | Rod's Music | Beaver Rag (brass) Program Notes
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The Basics1st Trumpet
2nd Trumpet
French horn
Trombone
Tuba
This rag was originally composed for piano around 1972 but the brass quintet arrangement was done 25 years later (in February 1997).
Actually, it was the very first of a couple of dozen rags I composed back in the 70s. 'Beaver' seemed good as a Canadian name (I'd spent several canoe trips over the years hauling canoes over or around beaver dams up in Algonquin Park or Temagami). Also 'Beaver' was my son's nickname when very young. And finally, other Canadian symbols (such as the maple leaf) were already taken. In fact, Joplin's wonderful Maple Leaf Rag was the very first rag I learned to play and my introduction into the genre.
The basic elements of ragtime are: (1) a steady underlying 4/4 beat, (2) syncopation in the melody, and (3) some characteristic (often chromatic) harmonies. The syncopation can be seen in certain accented notes where the accent comes in each case an eighth note in advance of the regular beat. Here (in a second window) are A Few Additional Notes on Ragtime
Like all the MIDI files here, it is in General MIDI form. The General MIDI patches (on the 0-127 numbering system) are:
| Part | General MIDI patch | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| name | # | ||
| 1st Trumpet | Trumpet | 56 | |
| 2nd Trumpet | Trumpet | 56 | |
| French Horn | French Horn | 60 | |
| Trombone | Trombone | 57 | |
| Tuba | Tuba | 58 | |
On my own synth I used the following patches:
| Part | Sound Module | Patch | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | # | |||
| 1st Trumpet | Roland JV880 | Trumpet 1 from Orchestral Expansion Board (OEB) | 106 | |
| 2nd Trumpet | Roland JV880 | Trumpet 1 from OEB | 106 | |
| French Horn | Roland JV880 | Solo F/. Horn 1 from OEB | 123 | |
| Trombone | Roland JV880 | Solo Tb 1 from OEB | 113 | |
| Tuba | Roland JV880 | Tuba 2 from OEB | 122 | |
Structure notesThe structure follows the classical ragtime format perfected by that early genius of the form: Scott Joplin.
Intro AABBA CCDD CodaSpecifically, in this rag the AABBA is in Bb major and the CCDD in F major. Whereas in the piano version the repeats are simply repeats, in the brass version the repeats allow for alternate instrumentations, as indicated below.
| Section | Measures | Comments |
| Intro | 1 to 5 | French horn solo |
| A1 | 6 to 21 | melody in trumpets |
| A2 | 22 to 37 | melody in trombone, then horn, then trumpets |
| B1 | 38 to 53 | melody in trumpet 1 |
| B2 | 54 to 69 | melody in tuba |
| A3 | 70 to 84 | melody in trombone, then horn, then trumpets |
| Bridge | 85 | |
| C1 | 86 to 105 | melody in horn |
| C2 | 106 to 125 | polyphonic section with all instruments echoing theme |
| D1 | 126 to 141 | melody in trumpets, then trombone |
| D2 | 142 to 157 | melody in horn, then trumpets |
| Coda | 158 to 173 | built off the end of A2 but with some swung rhythms |
| Year | Title ... Instrumentation ...... Excerpts | Min: Sec |
Complete MP3 files (better sound)** file size |
MP3 file extracts (better sound)** file size |
Complete MIDI file (not as good sound but quick)** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The complete piece: | |||||
| 1997-1998 | Beaver Rag ... brass quintet (2 trumpets, French horn, trombone, tuba) |
5:50 |  4.0 MB |
||
| How the MIDI file sounds depends, of course, on your playback mechanism. On my computer, MIDI files are played by the QuickTime PlugIn and the brass parts don't sound very realistic (strange sounding horn, thin trumpets) and are sometimes badly unbalanced. Also the portamenti (trombone slides) don't seem to work. In comparison, the mp3 file (recorded from my sound-module patches) sounds much better. Of course, if you have a synthesizer, you can download the MIDI file and set the instruments to your own preferred patches, then do the volume balancing -- but that's a lot more work than downloading the complete mp3 file. | |||||
| |||||
| Short extracts: | |||||
| ...... Intro & Sections A1 & A2 | 1:11 | 0.7 MB |
|||
| This mp3 excerpt of the Introduction and Sections A1 and A2 in comparison to the embedded MIDI sound gives a mellower French horn, brighter trumpets, deeper and fuller tuba, and (half way through the excerpt) a proper trombone slide. | |||||
| ...... Section C2 | 0:41 | 0.4 MB |
|||
| This mp3 excerpt of Section C2 in comparison to the usual embedded MIDI sound gives a mellower French horn, and better trombone and tuba underneath. The polyphonic section in the latter half of this excerpt also works better in the mp3 version than in the usual embedded MIDI sound. | |||||
| ...... Section D2 to end | 1:01 | 0.6 MB |
|||
| This mp3 excerpt of Section D2 in comparison to the usual embedded MIDI sound shows off the horn timbre of the French horn better, gives brighter trumpet "chirps" at the start, and a much better tuba bass underneath. | |||||
** If you have a high-speed connection, forget about the MIDI files and just use the MP3 files (better). If you have a dial-up connection, consider the faster (but not as good) MIDI file only if the MP3 files seem to be taking too long to play or download.
| Year | Title ... Instrumentation | Description | No. of score pages |
Score (pdf file) file size |
No. of text pages |
Text (rtf file) file size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-1998 | Beaver Rag ... brass quintet (2 trumpets, French horn, trombone, tuba) |
Complete score | 22 |  0.5 MB |
3 |  28 KB |
| Fr Horn Part | 3 | 0.1 MB |
2 | 28 KB | ||
| Trumpet Parts | 7 | 0.3 MB |
2 | 28 KB | ||
| Trombone Part | 3 | 0.1 MB |
2 | 28 KB | ||
| Tuba Part | 4 | 0.1 MB |
2 | 28 KB |