When we formed True North Brass in 1998, one of the things that I immediately wanted to do was compose and arrange some music that was unique to the group. As a result, I composed a few fanfares that we ended up using either to start the concert or begin the second half after the interval. One of them, entitled The True North, has an interesting genesis.
When I came to compose it, I remember thinking that since we had taken our name from the English words of our National Anthem, that perhaps I should write a fanfare based on its music, but I was concerned that if you compose a piece based on the national anthem, audiences may immediately catch the reference and assume that you’re about to play it for real, and stand up! My task then, was to find a way to satisfy myself that I was using the O Canada melody for musical inspiration, and in the process, dress it up sufficiently so that its own mother wouldn’t recognise it!
By taking the opening 4 notes of O Canada, and shortening the 1st note, and taking the 4th note up the octave and adding a 32nd note ta-ka-ta-ka-taaa on it, and slightly changing the original harmony, I had the opening “sentence”, as it were, of my “essay”. The rest came rather easily and for a nice touch, near the end, once the audience knew that we weren’t playing the anthem, I quoted the music from the line “The True North strong and free”. Audiences responded well to it, and I don’t believe anyone ever stood up by mistake.
We recorded the fanfare not too long after I wrote it, and soon, other groups were requesting the music.
Recently, the Fanfare Trumpets of the Central Band of the Canadian Forces in Ottawa informed me that they were going to be playing it as King Charles and Queen Camilla entered the Senate to deliver the Speech from the Throne.
Cool. However, the TV commentators were more concerned with what Camilla was wearing as she entered the Chamber and talked all the way through it.
Oh well…
But, still cool, nevertheless.
