I returned to Maine in 2022 and decided to reformulate the Huddled Masses Orchestra from scratch, as a band playing Serbian brass band music. Yes, Serbian brass is a “thing,” and if you haven’t experienced it, your life is incomplete.
How to get sheet music
There have been a few challenges, but early on one challenge was how to get music. I queried an email listserve that focuses on east European folk music, and the responses were summed up quite succinctly: “Don’t bother with sheet music, just listen a lot and learn the tunes by ear.”
Yessir, its a great idea. But in reality? Pigs will fly before I can gather ten players and get everyone lined up on the playing-by-ear part.
In the internet archives there is a nice little discussion as to this specific category of quest, located at Trumpet Herald. The thread echoes the idea of learning to play by ear. Got it.
Brass bands as an expression of non-Western culture
A big question you may have not even considered, is Why Serbia? Why Brass? How did these bands get here? It is answered quite well in the review of two CDs from 1993 Frozen Brass 1 &2. The collector of the Frozen Brass CDs was a University faculty from Amsterdam, the late Rob Boonzajer Flaes. He also produced a book titled: Brass Unbound: Secret Children of the Colonial Brass Band. The blurb at the Amazon site sums up the premise better than I ever could. One-word answer: Colonialism.
Lead Sheets? WYSIWYP?????
I knew the sheet music for brass band had to be out there, even if it was only lead sheets. (A lead sheet is a stripped down cheat sheet for a tune, usually the melody with chords written out and maybe a base line). What I wanted was individual parts – one for tuba, one for clarinet, one for trumpet,etc – each written in the key that fits the ensemble. No transposition, and what-you-see-is-what-you-play (“WYSIWYP”).
“Activist Street Band” repertoire
You can get full band arrangements like the ones you read in high school, from the same publishers that developed them when they were produced on a printing press. These can be expensive. The idea is to find free or low cost arrangements. In many cases, the tunes are ones that do not have copyright issues. To make a long story short, ultimately the best source of WYSIWYP arrangements in USA is to be found at a variety of sites operated by Activist street bands. If you really feel compelled to play out, explore the Honk Fest site that tells you more about this type of band. In Maine, The Ideal Maine Band Social Aid and Sanctuary Band is included in the Honk Fest Roster. They rehearse every Tuesday in Portland. They don’t play Serbian music, they are more of an all-purpose street band.
List of sites
The first one I found was: the Brass Liberation Orchestra. http://brassliberation.org/sheetmusic.php Here are some of the Balkan Crown Jewels of small brass bands: Bubamara, Misirlou, Djelem Djelem, and Ederlezi. They exemplify an easy format, in which there is one lead sheet for each key and/or clef, often a harmony, and also a “tenor” part- the backbeat scheme. Hot Tip: be sure to download the back beat pages so the back beat chore is equally shared by anybody not actually on the melody.
BLO also includes many tunes from the Spanish-speaking, Jazz, spiritual and N’Owlins traditions.
Rude Mechanical Orchestra
The place where Mesecina is to be found – this is a beloved gem and the arrangement is gorgeous. RMO houses about fifty other tunes including a set of “riffs” which look like fun. (we haven’t gotten around to playing those.) For many tunes, a MIDI file accompanies the sheet music.
https://rudemechanicalorchestra.org/songs-we-play/learn-first
Balkanarama This is a Seattle-based group. They have a wonderful gaggle of lead sheets including many Romani tunes that I love. The HMO has not learned any yet – we are still digesting the WYSIWYP tunes.
https://balkanarama.com/category/balkan-sheet-music
Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble of Montreal. Lots of free music here and generally written out in WYSIWYP. Quebecois protest music.
https://chaoticinsurrectionensemble.org/en/music.html
Society of Folk Dance Historians This is not primarily a sheet music site, but they do include links to one of my favorite sources – the late Richard Geisler. Way back in the 1990s when I started trying to play folk music live as opposed to dancing along to 45 rpm records, Geisler had the most accessible collections of folk dance tunes around. He had the nicest calligraphy ever. The SFDH is now the repository of his books and they can be downloaded in their entirety.
https://sfdh.us/encyclopedia/geisler_r.html
Fanfare Zebaliz
Music of Ukraine In 2023, The Huddled Masses teamed up with the Maine Balkan Choir to produce a series of charity concerts for Ukraine. The program was cobbled together via a group scavenger hunt. Among other sources, a band member wrote out some of the lead sheets by listening to a recording since written music was not available. The program was mostly classic Slavic harmony from a 55-member choir with the band as backup, and the recording is available on YouTube. We will send the music to any choir that requests it.
Along the way, I found the Facebook page of Vadim Dachevsky who lives in Kiev. He plays Bayan and serves as arranger for a folklorical dance group there. He has transcribed many Ukraine pop and folk tunes. Browse them below. They are generally for piano and voice, but I contacted him directly and asked if he would arrange some for our ensemble. He produced wonderful music and his fee was reasonable.
https://www.youtube.com/@sheetmusicarrangement3508
https://www.facebook.com/groups/499271898592291
Riff Raff Orchestra Australia. They do not have as many protest songs, but there are some funk gems in there and a few disco tunes (!)
Lebanon This is a recent find, propelled by current events. I suppose people don’t think of Arabic music as being connected to Serbian music but these regions were each subjects of the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, and parallel strands run through each. Also, people think of Arabic music as a string ensemble featuring oud and guitar with dumbeq. There is, however, a robust worldwide tradition of brass band music since the days of empire (a factor that led to the worldwide spread of brass music. Brass bands were a tool of the colonizer (also known as the oppressor).
Having said that, through a serendipitous process I found a YouTube site owned by a musician from Sidon, Lebanon. I had heard the tune “Leve Palestina” when it was used as the background in a tik tok video, and decided to find it. Mr. Ahmad Hably, the arranger, also happens to be a leader in the Lebanese Scouts. He has amassed a treasure trove of about 700 arrangements. These include the national anthems of Arab and African Countries, Operatic tunes, military marches from many traditions, love songs, and music to accompany Middle Eastern Dance. He will send you the arrangements in WYSIWYP format if you request ( i.e., free of charge). I was dazzled by the selection.
The big challenge for me is that I do not read or speak Arabic. I may want to play less than dozen; but this involves sorting through all 700 tunes. It’s tedious, even with the aid of Google Translate. I have contacted various Arabic speakers to ask for help and guidance.
https://www.youtube.com/@BrassBandSheetMusic
What Have I Missed?
This blog entry was focused on WYSIWYP music. There are many sites that only publish lead sheets, or which publish tunes for ensembles other than brass. I left those off on purpose. There are some wonderful Dixieland sites and Klezmer sites. For that matter, when I lived in Nepal I was friends with a wedding band in Kathmandu. I am not going to cover any of those, they are beyond my pay grade (though I was once the leader of the only Dixieland Band in the state of Hawaii). There are many other sites out there I haven’t found. (The “known unknowns” as Donald Rumsfeld would say).
If you know of a site that should be added, please send the link.
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