Fanfare procession
A traditional fanfare procession is a music group whose musicians play natural trumpets and mercenary drums. Some fanfares have an extended line-up with secondary instruments, which mostly consist of par force horns , kettledrum , small drums , large drums or cymbals . Another type of fanfare train is the modern fanfare train. In this fanfare mainly it - valve trumpets used. The other musical instruments are subject to a much greater variety than with traditional fanfare trains. For example, tenor horns , marching bells , shoulder basses , slide trombones , various types of percussion such as small drums or even complete drums are used.
The most common mood is It . Due to the lack of valves, the individual tones of natural trumpets are produced exclusively with the lips; therefore only the so-called natural tone series can be played. Playing together with z. B. marching bands or brass bands is therefore only possible to a limited extent. Relevant literature, especially for fanfares and wind bands, is available. In modern fanfares, on the other hand, Eb valve fanfares are mainly used, and occasionally even trumpets, which enables chromatic playing and thus greatly expands the possibility of playing with other brass bands.
History of fanfare trains
Originally, fanfares included natural trumpets and kettledrum. In the course of time, however, the Landsknecht drum has established itself as the most widespread percussion instrument in traditional fanfare parades (kettledrum can only be found in equestrian fanfare corps). Many fanfares expand their line-up with other instruments, such as B. Parforce horns, kettledrum, small drums, large drums or cymbals. Natural bass trumpets that are tuned an octave lower are also used occasionally. The instrumentation of the modern fanfare trains extends over an even larger area because it is possible to include almost any instrument in the group, whereby mainly various modern percussion instruments and shoulder basses or train trombones have established themselves as extended instruments.
Today's natural clay fanfares play a repertoire that consists of traditional marches and parades as well as concert music. While marching music was in the foreground a few years ago , in the recent past more and more emphasis has been placed on compositions for stage play. Today's fanfares draw on compositions by old masters as well as works by today's composers.
Musically, the two types of fanfare are sometimes fundamentally different. While the traditional fanfare groups mainly play marches and concert music due to their limited range, a modern fanfare group is able to play almost all types of music.
Fanfare trains in the new federal states
Most of the fanfare trains in the former GDR arose from the Free German Youth (FDJ) , for example as a working group in schools. A few were organized in the Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund (DTSB) and received little attention, which only changed in 1968 with the first music show.
The equipment was limited to E-flat fanfares, Landsknecht drums, flat drums. Sometimes there were also cymbals and timpani. For special performances, the winds were also equipped with horns in Bb so that they could play together with musicians' trains. Since the end of the 1960s, the Bb / Eb switching fanfare developed by Gerhard Müller and Bernd Schenke replaced the other two wind instruments. Today a wide range of percussion instruments are also used here. The classic uniform consists (as in the marching band) of white trousers, white shirt and white shoes. In many places, tops are worn in the colors of the city or completely in red / white - the colors of the minstrels.
The initially rather small repertoire with at most two-part short titles, which mostly only sounded loud and undynamic, developed significantly through the big appearances at the music shows as part of the DTSB sports show. This resulted in the so-called “March album”, a collection of different titles that today dominate almost all the features of the new federal states and thus enable a common game. The upswing of fanfare trains in Potsdam in 1970 led to the “first classification tournament” for fanfare trains and then to the determination of the “GDR best” of the special class fanfare trains and from 1978 to the GDR championship. This was followed by a significant increase in fanfare parades, which only turned into a wave of dissolution after 1990 with the end of the GDR. Many of the remaining clubs often try to make their music and presentation more modern, but without losing too much of their similarities with other trains. There were also a number of completely newly founded associations after 1990.
With the "Fanfaronade" of the Märkischer Turnerbund Brandenburg (MTB) there is an annual performance comparison in marching and show competitions of the East German fanfare trains, which is considered the largest European performance comparison for natural clay fanfare trains and also the qualification competition for the World Championships of the World Association of Marching Show Bands (WAMSB) ) is. The best East German fanfare trains were often able to hold their own against international competition in this world championship.
Organization of fanfare marches in Germany
Fanfare marches are organized in the individual regional associations, some of which also host regional championships. In addition, there are various interest groups in Germany that have made it their business to maintain and further spread the tradition of fanfare trains.
Fanfare marches can be organized in the following regional associations:
- Hessian Music Association ,
- State Brass Band Association Brandenburg,
- LandesMusikVerband NRW 1960 e. V.,
- State Music Association of Rhineland-Palatinate ,
- State Music Association Saxony-Anhalt e. V.,
- Landes- Musik- und Spielleutesportverband Sachsen e. V.,
- National Association of Spielmanns- und Fanfarenzzüge e. V.,
- National Association for the Minstrel Society V.,
- Musicians Association Schleswig-Holstein,
- Hamburg Music Association,
- Musikverband NRW e. V.,
- Lower Saxony Music Association ,
- Ring Oberschwäbischer Fanfarenzzüge e. V.,
- Saxon Brass Band Association ,
- Volksmusikerbund NRW,
- Brass Music Association Baden-Württemberg ,
- Brass Music Association Berlin,
- Brass Band Association of Thuringia,
- Association of Fanfare Trains Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
For the southern German area there is the Verband Südwestdeutscher Fanfarenzzüge e. V. , which currently has around 40 pure natural clay fanatics from southern Germany, divided into four sections. Every year an annual meeting of the sections as well as an all-south-west German fanfare meeting is organized. Joint appearances by an entire section at various events (Formula 1 races at the Hockenheimring, Oktoberfest in Munich, etc.) have already been implemented.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the New Guild of Field Trumpeters and Heerpauker , the community of interests of pure fanfare trains in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) , was formed. This interest group currently includes around 20 natural clay fanfare groups, all of which come exclusively from North Rhine-Westphalia. Here, too, there is a meeting of all member associations every year. Similar to the Southwest German Association, the highlight in NRW is the joint game of all fanfare trains, in which around 400 musicians play music at the same time.
At federal level, all of these associations are brought together under the umbrella of the Federal Association of German Music Associations. Due to the many associations, there are various German championships. The German Federal Association of Musicians, Fanfare, Horns and Music Trains (DBV) organizes a German championship for fanfare trains every 2 years, in which the natural clay fanfare trains compete for the title in the natural clay class.
For the fanfare marches in East Germany, the follow-up event to the GDR championships of the DTSB is the fanfaronade as the largest European performance comparison in march and show for natural clay fanfares and is also a qualifying competition for the World Association of Marching Show Bands (WAMSB) world championships. Participation from other musical trains is generally possible and desirable in the open classes. The organizer is the joint technical committee for music and minstrels (TK MSW) of the Märkischer Turnerbund Brandenburg e. V. (MTB) and the Berliner Turn- und Freizeitsport-Bund e. V. (BTFB), which merged in 2008 in MTB.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of the B / Es-Umschaltfanfare
- ↑ March album for fanfare trains
- ↑ Dieter Frackowiak / Bernd Schenke: Fanfares and Tom-Toms - With GDR tradition to the top of the world, Verlag am park, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-945187-30-2
- ↑ http://www.maerkischer-turnerbund.de/portal/mainnavi/sportarten/musik-und-spielmannwesen.html