I have a confession to make. One that I'm not particularly ashamed of, but one that I never thought I would make. I like playing 'My Fair Lady'. No, that's not correct. I really like playing 'My Fair Lady'. There, I've said it!
Throughout my banding life, I've never been a fan of suites from shows and films, particuarly those from a bygone era; shows that many would deem classics (and having not seen them, who am I to disagree?). But our audiences like to hear them, and that's all that matters.
I've been thinking about why I've taken a shine to this one, and it's down to the arrangement. As simple as that. We've played a few Alan Fernie arrangements and compositions ('Ticket to Ride' and 'Alpine Lullaby' spring to mind), and I like these too. I can't put my finger on what he does to make them good to play. Maybe it's the clever touches (I love the cornet 'wedding bell' effect towards the start of 'My Fair Lady'). It could be that the individual parts seem to be interesting to play (well, the 1st baritone part is). Maybe he has a knack of making relatively old music sound fresh and not twee. Whatever it is, I like it. I may not be saying this in a few months time after playing it throughout the summer, but somehow I think I will.
Now, I wonder if Alan Fernie has done an arrangement of music from one of my all time films (yes, I know I'm about to contradict most of what I've just said), 'The Wizard of Oz'....?
