Benny Borg

Den store dagen

This beautiful song contains a huge contrast between the hopeful and the disappointing. A mother has her birthday and is waiting her children to celebrate it. Each verse starts optimistically, but the short chorus is characterized by the disappointment, that everyone calls, and cannot come. This has been tried recreated musically, mostly in the last two choruses, as it dawns on her that she will not receive a visit. It's a beautiful tune, but with a serious message that it's easy to take someone for granted.

One of the elements Hjørring Brass Band (DK) came up with after rehearsal, was that they really liked the change between the ballad parts with even eights and the swing parts. This also gives the piece a sense of "parlando" character, which tells a story, and is therefore important to focus. It is not quite simple, as the melody also in those parts with even eights has some triplet rhythms. Therefore, this is a topic you can work on very consciously.

If you have heard the Wind Band version, you can notice that both keys and modulation are different in the Brass Band arrangement to sound better for this instrumentation.
Regarding instrumentation, Flugelhorn, Solo Horn and Euphonium have important roles, in addition to Solo Cornet.

It is also possible to use a vocal soloist, but then you have to soften the melody voices, especially, where small variations in the melody have been made for the wind instruments.