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Thread: Star Wars Medley - John Williams, arr. James Burden

  1. #1
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    Star Wars Medley - John Williams, arr. James Burden

    At our last concert we played a really nice arrangement by James Burden called, "Star Wars Medley" (John Williams). It has a nice solo for euphonium toward the end of the piece. It's Princess Leia's theme. When I first played it in rehearsal it wasn't all that good because I pictured Princess Leia in that skimpy costume with Jabba the Hutt and I lost my buzz. If interested here's a snippet of the concert recording:

    Star Wars Medley - Princess Leia's Theme:
    Last edited by RickF; 04-09-2019 at 04:53 PM.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  2. #2
    Nice job! I never got to play that as a solo - we used the section, which is OK, too, but...

    How fast did you take the section coming up - the one with all the 16ths?
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
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  3. #3
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    Funny you should ask Dave. Too fast for me. I had to leave a couple of measures out. My tongue just isn’t fast enough for 16th notes in cut time at that tempo.
    Last edited by RickF; 04-11-2019 at 09:05 AM.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  4. #4
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    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
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    Nice playing, Rick. Yes, I would probably lose my buzz, too. That's funny! I may get that piece for our group.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  5. Sounds great! Do you have a recording of the full piece? I'm working on this piece with my wind band and have not found many high-quality recordings in the usual places.

  6. #6
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    Thanks guys.

    JVickers, I couldn’t find a great recording for our ‘listening files’ but Orion Concert Band was okay. I usually look for recording by military bands. That opening first chord is weird. Maybe a 9 chord? Not sure. I cut and pasted a different arr for the fanfare in the beginning

    Here’s a link to the one our band listened to:
    https://app.box.com/s/b3tl34169nxn5y0nqg24nf51g65e5xun

    - - - edit - - -
    I meant Merion Concert Band
    Last edited by RickF; 04-16-2019 at 10:47 AM.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  7. #7
    Just a historical reference on that first strange chord pickup that starts the opening fanfare of the suite: Burden was the first to produce a medley of the Star Wars music, and had access to Williams' scores before the movie was released. On one of the special or anniversary releases of the soundtrack to A New Hope (first movie released in 1977) there are some alternate takes of the opening theme where this chord cluster upbeat can be heard. i think Williams decided that it didn't really work, and removed it from the final version, but his scores still referenced it when Burden created these arrangements for band and orchestra. I've played both settings a number of times over the years, and usually make a point of privately asking the conductor to drop that pickup. It has never worked successfully in any group I've played in.

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
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    1,867
    Quote Originally Posted by JVickers View Post
    Sounds great! Do you have a recording of the full piece? I'm working on this piece with my wind band and have not found many high-quality recordings in the usual places.
    This performance is pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq-3...&start_radio=1
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    West Palm Beach, FL
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    Yeah John, that’s the one I was referring to. I remembered it as Orion, but it was Merion. We used that one with exception of the first 20 seconds or so from an orchestra version (same key and just brass fanfare). The finished sample is in the link I shared.
    Last edited by RickF; 04-14-2019 at 12:07 PM.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  10. #10
    I FINALLY found a recording of the USCG Band, from an alumni concert in the early 2000's:

    http://www.dwerden.com/SoundFiles/Mi...t-StarWars.mp3
    Last edited by davewerden; 04-16-2019 at 04:12 PM.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

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