HOW TO COMMISSION A WORK FOR YOUR CONCERT BAND
How £19.25 per week for one year could produce a special work for your band.
There is a good history of concert band commissions in the UK,
so let’s see how it works from
the germ of an idea to the first performance.
Firstly, there will be an idea within the band that it would be good to
have a
piece specially written, which could come from conductctor,
parents, committee or players, so, what happens next?
01. Who do we approach to compose for the band ?
02. How do we contact the composer ?
03. How Much would it cost ?
04. How
long would it take
?
05. Will it be what we ask
for or expect
?
06. How do we raise the money?
07. Is there a contract?
08. Are there hidden costs?
09. Who has the copyright?
10. How will the commission be recognised?
11. What is a consortium?
12. Will the composer attend the first performance?
1. A first list of composers who have proven track records in writing
for
concert band would contain Philip Sparke,
Martin Ellerby,
Alan Fernie
and Bruce
Fraser. There are many composers, but these are particularly
experienced in
writing for (a) concert band and (b) personalising
a
piece to a particular group. The composer, Peter Graham, should also be
mentioned as being particularly interested in this project, though he
has said
that he prefers to write a piece and then find a band for it. (Peter
can be
contacted through www.gramercymusic.com)
2. At the end of this article I list contacts for the above composers.
Any of
these would appreciate an email as an approach, and be willing to
discuss a
commission. Advice here is that you should decide which composer you
would most
like to write for your band, and then approach that one in the first
place. If
that does not work out, try the next one. It is not usual to contact
all and
sit back to decide on the best one for you. However, bearing in mind
how
architects are given commissions, if you do decide to contact all the
composers, it is important to let them know that you are considering
them as
one of the group, and that you contact all of them to let them know of
your
decision.
3. The BritishAcademy
of Composers
used to
issue a list of minimum fees for commissions, but had to retract it due
to EU
rules. A rough guide from that list is that the minimum cost for a
concert band
piece would be £300 per minute. If you were commissioning
major composers such as
John
Williams ( of
Star Wars fame etc.) or James McMillan (world famous Scottish Classical
composer), that figure would probably jump to thousands per minute.
4. Generally,
composers will have busy schedules and you should plan at least 6
months in
advance, but you can sometimes persuade composers to work to a shorter
time
scale.
5.
In discussion with the
composer, it is best to give a really good idea
of what kind of piece you would really like. Is it an OPENER, a BIGGIE,
a FINISHER,
or a SLOW
TUNE ? Perhaps
the inspiration for the
work will be drawn from local history or be based on the school or band
name or
be related to a story – the choices really are endless. Make
sure that the composer
is aware of the instrumentation and standard of the band. You want to
end up
with a piece that the band can play and that has real relevance to the
school
or community. Composers will often wish to visit a rehearsal to get a
good
picture of the band to allow them to personalise
the
work. Inviting composers to workshop a piece once it is written, is
also a very
good idea and brings a special meaning to the performers. This is where
the
composer would attend or conduct a rehearsal of the work and explain to
the
players how it was put together and how it is personalised
for the band.
6. There are many ways to find-raise the cost of the commission,
including
applying to the Scottish Arts Council. Any award from them would come
through
Awards for All
and would probably amount to half the
cost of the commission. Everyone involved in the band world is aware of
how
difficult it is to raise money, and there are many ingenious ideas
around. The
thing is that there are people and organisations
who
will be interested in giving money towards a commission as their name/organisation
can be mentioned in the score and parts as a
form of advertising/public recognition. This is probably another
article in
itself. A
very simple way forward is to
have a band sub of 50
pence per week for 52 weeks ( based on your band having approx 39
members or
more), this will fairly painlessly raise the £1000.00 sum you
need for a five
minute work.
7. It is a good idea to draw up a simple contract with the composer to
decide
on a date that the music will be delivered etc. It is usual to pay half
the
commission fee up front and the other half on delivery of the piece,
but you
will find that these composers are very flexible depending on
circumstances.
You can find commissioning contract samples on the internet. They tend
to be
quite complex for film score composers etc, but do give an idea.
8. All costs should be discussed with the composer before going ahead.
You will
see in the specific composer comments below that most of the group
would supply
the conductors score with the dedication to the band, plus a set of
parts.
These parts could be in pdf
format where you can
print out parts as required, or in hard copy supplied by the composer.
It’s
important to check whether there is an extra charge for hard copy
parts. In the
olden days, the composer handed over a score and the band had to
arrange to
have the parts copied separately and at extra cost. You will see from
Alan Fernie’s
response that he is a traditionalist, but is
prepared to be involved in the preparation of the parts.
9. The copyright belongs to the composer, although you will have the
right to
the first performance. It is possible that the work could then be
published and
the name of the band would be on scores and parts being played all over
the
world. This
has the ability to give your
band a very positive international identity.
10. The front page of the score will state the commissioner of the work
and can
list names of individuals/organisations
who
contributed to the cost of the commission. If the work is published,
the
commissioning band(s) will be acknowledged at the front of the score
and parts.
It will also be recognised
as an alternative to
playing a piece from the set list at SCBF events. If the band wins
through to
National Level, the work will be recorded by the RSAMD Wind Orchestra.
11. A consortium is where two or more bands commission a work and split
the
cost between them. In this case each band will have the right to give
first
performances. This is a very cost effective way of commissioning a work
as, the
more bands involved the less each one has to pay. The downside to this
is that
it makes the work less personalised
to a particular
band.
12. Composers enjoy attending first performances of their works and
would make
every effort to be there.
These are specific comments from the list composers:
PHILIP SPARKE
“I am always happy to consider commissions from school and
community bands. My
scale of fees is completely flexible and depends on the type of piece
and the
size and grade of the ensemble concerned
-even, perhaps, the nature of the premiere.
The fee includes a full set of publication-standard score and parts
and, of
course, rights of first performance and acknowledgement and dedication
in the
published edition. I usually ask for a lead time of 18 months to 2
years and
actively encourage input from the commissioner about the type of piece
required.”
MARTIN ELLERBY
“I’d
be
happy to be involved. I do have an ideal per minute rate which includes
all the
performing material to the commissioning body but would rather inform
interested parties of this privately. Of course time scales are always
crucial.
Pd say as much as possible for the benefit of all concerned. Once in
the diary
I’m good at sticking to deadlines.”
ALAN FERNIE
“I generally would charge, for a school/area band work,
£200 per minute of
music. I think this, from what I’m led to believe, is on the
cheap side, but I
would counter that with the fact that I’d be sending in a
hand-written score. I
know, from bluer experience!!, that this just isn’t an option
any more with
young players, so perhaps there could be an opportunity for someone in
the organisation,
staff or pupil, to set it on the computer,
working in conjunction with myself- indeed I’d make myself
available, as part
of the commission, to do a composing/arranging workshop at the school
band. As
for ideas on subject matter -
I’d be again
looking to work together with the band, its director and
myself.”
BRUCE FRASER
“I would firstly want to discuss ideas for the piece with the
conductor/band/committee and would expect to be involved in
rehearsals/workshops so that the band would get the most out of the
experience.
As far as cost, I tend to go at the average rate which would include
the supply
of score and set of parts produced on computer. I tend to be good at
deadlines
and can work very quickly”
Hopefully, this article will have given you a good insight to the
process of
commissioning a work for your concert band and let you consider the
unique
benefits from such a project.
Contacts
Philip Sparke
email -
philsparke@ntlworld.com
Martin Ellerby
email -
martin.ellerby@btinternet.com
Alan Fernie
email –
alanfernie@btinternet.com
Bruce Fraser email —
bruce@lomondmusic.com
Good luck,
and on behalf of the Scottish Concert Band Festival, I look forward to
hearing
some new works for your bands in the future.
© Bruce Fraser November
2009.