We caught up with internationally acclaimed trombonist, composer, and arranger Mark Nightingale to discuss his new collection of sheet music, 27 Mega Duets.
27 Mega Duets - available in four editions for a variety of brass instruments - has been compiled by Mark to celebrate the art of the tuneful twosome.
"I’m often urged by my colleagues," says Mark, "especially those who teach, to produce new material that fills a certain hole in the market that they perceive. Whilst my Ten Tempestuous Duets went down very well with advanced players, the feedback I received was that some tuneful duets at a slightly more manageable standard would be a useful addition to the repertoire.
"In recent years I have written mostly etudes and pieces aimed at players up to Grade 5 standard, so the idea appealed to me."
The result is 27 Mega Duets, including some stellar tunes from a range of Mark's previous works, along with some exclusive new pieces.
"For inspiration, I looked back through various study books I have written over the years and chose some favourites that I thought would adapt well into duets," says Mark. "Several came from Tricky But Tempting studies for trombone, quite a few from Strictly Flutey Tudes (the titles are the ones which rhyme with flute!), a few from Jazz@Etudes, and a few brand new ones.
"In general, I wanted to keep the upper range not too high so that players would not become too fatigued when working through them. I also wanted to explore the lower register in the underneath parts, where slide movements or valve fingerings are slightly more tricky."
With twenty-seven pieces arranged and compiled for intermediate and advanced players, 27 Mega Duets is available in four editions:
27 Mega Duets - Trumpet or Cornet Duet
27 Mega Duets - French Horn Duet
27 Mega Duets - Euphonium / Baritone Duet Treble Clef
27 Mega Duets - Bass Clef Brass Instruments
"Some duets major on a particular aspect of technique or harmony," Mark continues, "so I hope they prove useful as a teaching tool as well as just a fun thing for players to get together and play. I wanted to cover many musical styles within the book too – in an effort to keep it fresh and varied. It seemed natural to adapt them for all brass in various editions as we all encounter similar difficulties, so I made minor alterations to make each edition slightly more instrument-specific whilst being basically the same."
Compiling a collection such as this is a, well, mega task, but fortunately, Mark had some assistance from a fellow musician.
"My pet guinea pig to try all these out on," says Mark, "and the gentleman whose expertise recorded the sound and pictures for the demo videos, was Ian Moffat. We have been regular duetting partners since he used to live nearby several decades ago, so he was a natural choice.
"The piece ‘The Victim Of Bromley’ was written with him in mind, and conceived on a walk in the countryside local to me. I made my part relatively easy and gave him some testing low-register work to do, including the use of pedal notes!"
You can hear Mark and Ian performing Hirsute on YouTube!
It's fitting that the origins of this collection can be found in the joy of duetting. But what other musicians has Mark been lucky to share the stage with?
"As a player myself," says Mark, "I’ve had the opportunity to duet with many great trombonists and it is always a pleasure and an inspiration to stand next to wonderful musicians. I’ve done many Kai & JJ-type gigs with players such as Alistair White, Callum Au, Andy Wood, Dave Horler, Bill Reichenbach, Neil Sidwell, Marc Godfroid, Conrad Herwig, and even Joe Alessi. The first band I did in that style was called ‘Mark 2’ with Mark D'Silva and we made the televised final of the Schlitz Jazz Competition in 1986.
There is definitely a sociable streak that we trombonists have, loving to play in ensembles made up of our own instruments!"
In the spirit of winning combinations, Mark and Warwick Music Publishing have successfully duetted for a number of years.
To learn more about Mark Nightingale, check out his website.
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