Fanfare orchestra

A Fanfare Orchestra (Dutch Fanfare Orkest) is a type of brass band consisting of the entire saxhorn family, trumpets, trombones, and saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone), as well as percussion. They are seldom seen outside of Europe, with a high concentration of these bands in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Instrumentation

The instrumentation of a fanfare orchestra is fairly similar to that of a British brass band but also includes trumpets rather than cornets and an additional compliment of flugelhorns. This combination of instuumenents gives the fanfare orchestra a sound that can be viewed as a halfway between that of a concert band and a brass band. In a fanfare orchestra, the most numerous brass instrument is the flugelhorn. In these ensembles, flugelhorns act as cornets would in a British-style brass band. Flugelhorn parts in a fanfare orchestra are often far more demanding than flugelhorn parts in brass band, and due to the absence of cornets, flugelhorns have to play in the higher register than they would in a brass band. For this reason, flugelhorns in fanfare bands use shallower, cornet-like mouthpieces as opposed to the deeper, conical ones used in brass bands. The saxophone parts are often doubled on flugelhorn parts, which is what gives the fanfare orchestra its characteristic dark sound, as opposed to the brighter sound of wind bands. Trumpets are the other instruments that provide the higher range in fanfare bands. Trumpets generally do not play as much of a role in the sound of the band as they would in other ensembles, such as wind bands. Cornets are also occasionally used, but this is rare. At the very top of the range there is usually a soprano cornet or a piccolo trumpet. In the middle and lower ranges of the fanfare orchestra are French horns. Tenor horns can also be used, but this is rare. Lower than the French horns are baritone horns and euphoniums, trombones, occasionally a bass trombone, and B flat and E flat tubas. The lower instrumentation of a fanfare band is virtually identical to that of a brass band, aside from the fact that there are baritone saxophones in the fanfare band. There is often an abundance of percussion players (from 4-6).