Little Red Riding Hood
I've been a big fan of Rachmaninoff's music for many years, but arranging his music for brass presents, in some cases, insurmountable...
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Michael Allen
Aug 29, 2017
Orchestration Tips
There are several really good books on orchestration. Samuel Adler's book sits next to my workstation and I refer to it often as a...
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Michael Allen
Aug 28, 2017
Musical thievery and 12 steps
After Bach, the composer I’ve spent the most time with is Claude Debussy. In fact, the first two arrangements I made for large brass...
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Michael Allen
Aug 27, 2017
Tuba, or not tuba
Tortured play on words - sorry. I've had the luxury of writing for some fantastic musicians who happened to play the euphonium. John...
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Michael Allen
Aug 26, 2017
Willow, Willow
Many years ago, I was walking past Bill Stanley’s trombone studio at CU Boulder and heard a most remarkable thing. I stuck my head in the...
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Michael Allen
Aug 25, 2017
Huzzah! to the Queen's Chapel
Renaissance keyboard music is really fun to arrange. The simplicity of the music (well, at least some of it) lends itself to crafty...
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Michael Allen
Aug 24, 2017
My best chord
There's nothing quite like a well voiced, well spaced, well balanced chord written for brass when played in tune. Great brass players...
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Michael Allen
Aug 23, 2017
Euphonic Sounds
The temptation when making a brass arrangement of late 19th & early 20th century marches is to take the road more traveled - to "arrange"...
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Michael Allen
Aug 16, 2017
Arranging with intent
Many years ago, my friend and colleague Bill Stanley (professor of trombone, University of Colorado at Boulder) pointed me towards an...
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Michael Allen
Aug 11, 2017
Writer's block
I wrote recently about starting with the bass line when beginning work on an arrangement. That is generally a true statement. However,...
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