wind ensemble?

[band_orchestra_geek]

hi.. i just got accepted into NEC's MYWE (Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble) and i was wondering if anybody knows about how many flutes are in MYWE or the average wind ensemble, since i've never been in one. Is it like a good sized band? bigger/smaller? i dont know!!

Thanks!

[MeLizzard]

Congratulations! I'm not familiar with the instrumentation of this particular group, but a wind ensemble is a pretty standard thing. Ok...the wind ensemble movement was founded by Frederick Fennell at Eastman, where the first such group began rehearsing in the fall of 1952. Frank Battisti then expanded this endeavor at Ithaca High School in the later 1950s. They not only changed the sound of the "band", but were instrumental (no pun intended) in commissioning many new works that virtually built the modern wind band repertoire. The wind ensemble is a slightly-different configuration of everyday concert band instruments, almost always one player per part. Like wind parts in an orchestra, each part is a solo! The exception is the B-flat clarinet section, which, like the orchestral violin section, should have more than one player per part, often two or three. Usually, there are three, sometimes four, flutes, and one (or two) picc(s)--even alto flute sometimes--but only as many players as parts the composer has written. This occasionally means all players don't always play on all pieces. If there are, say, five trumpet players, and a selection on a concert has only two parts, then only two players will be utilized, whereas a regular concert band would just assign multiple players to each part, so everyone would play something. I have seen a couple groups in which the conductors have chosen to double all the flute parts, but that's no fun! This wasn't the case in my high school or college wind ensembles, but I guess some conductors think we sound soft and wimpy!!

[band_orchestra_geek]

thanks for the info! i appreciate it

[band_orchestra_geek]

thanks again.. i found out from an inside source that there are 9 flutes in MYWE.. a few more than i expected, but i still appreciate your info.

[MeLizzard]

Guess they double flute parts, eh?