Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine how doubling and usage are treated in the wind-band. The methods included computer processing of data extracted from 12 compositions and arrangements for wind-band. The works examined (1) are British or American publications issued between 1908 and 1966, (2) conform generally to a common instrumentation, (3) are successful works in the wind-band repertoire, and (4) are works created by composers who have created several works for wind-band.An input code was developed to represent certain aspects of music notation on standard 80-column punch cards. Following pre-analysis and encoding, the data from the 12 works were processed by researcher-developed programs to calculate several aspects of doubling frequencies and doubling combinations, frequencies and distributions for usage, and to compare results for each instrument and work with corresponding overall results. The results were presented quantitatively and descriptively as general findings for doubling, general findings for usage, usage patterns for each instrument, and doubling and usage patterns for each work.The general conclusions drawn from this study were: (1) Heavy doubling and mixed timbres predominate. Doubling was found to be determined primarily by range and function rather than color. (2) Consistent doubling patterns and a common practice are apparent, although doubling was found to vary from common practice in some works. (3) Consistent usage patterns and idiomatic scoring techniques were revealed for many instruments. Other instruments do not have as well-defined roles and the scoring of these instruments tends to define a particular composer's scoring style.