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Indian Summer

General Info

Year:: 1950
Difficulty:: B - Easy (Studio Music with R. Smith)
Publisher:: R. Smith & Company (RS20054; score RS21054)
Cost:: Score and Parts – £79.95 | Score Only – £39.95

Movements

The Great Chief Speaks
By the Cool Waters
Totem Dance
Hymn to the Great Spirit

Programme Notes

Ball wrote this four-movement fantasy in 1950, when it was set for the Third Section at the Area contests and the National Final. The movements follow a story set out in a foreword, about a chief’s gathering before winter, a girl by a lake, a dance and a closing hymn. When it was chosen for the 2026 Regionals, the music panel noted that the work reflects a limited, dated picture of Native American culture and suggested explaining that context before performances.

Publisher’s programme note: Studio Music (R. Smith & Company)

Media

Audio CD: Ever Ready Band (Robert Childs), Regionals 2026, cat. DOY CD448

Contest Use

Full contest history, including 106 set-test-piece and 206 own-choice uses: Brass Band Results

Works for Brass Band by This Composer

Original Works

Arrangements

Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Four Dances from Checkmate (Arthur Bliss)
A French Suite (Alexandre Boëly)
Froissart Overture (Edward Elgar)
A Rural Suite (Charles Woodhouse)
Suite Gothique (Léon Boëllmann)
Theme and Eight Variations from Enigma (Edward Elgar)
Themes from Symphony No. 1 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Themes from Symphony No. 5 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Themes from Symphony No. 9 (Ludwig van Beethoven)

Resources

Categories: Compositions | 1950 | Test Pieces

Suggest a correction to this page.

Sources

All read 8 November 2026.

Composer and dates (1903–1989), 1950 date and first contest use, 1999 revival, movement titles, 2026 Regionals Fourth Section, the panel's discussion of the work's depiction of Native American culture: https://4barsrest.com/news/62714/2026-regional-championship-test-piece-announced
Year; Contest Use: https://www.brassbandresults.co.uk/pieces/indian-summer
Publisher, catalogue number, price, series, movement titles, retailer difficulty label, programme note: https://www.studio-music.co.uk/rs20054
Score-only catalogue number RS21054 and price (£39.95), difficulty label, no duration: https://studio-music.co.uk/rs21054
Other price (£59.95): https://www.brassband.co.uk/sheet-music/indian-summer-fantasy-brass-band-set-eric-ball-rsmith
Retailer difficulty label (US); SKU RS20054: https://www.solidbrassmusic.com/product/ball-indian-summer
Media (Ever Ready Band, Robert Childs, Regionals 2026, DOY CD448): https://4barsrest.com/reviews/products/cd790.asp

Notes

Contest Use (selection). Brass Band Results records 106 set test-piece uses. Only the UK Area/Regional Championships and National Finals uses are listed here (1950, 1999 and 2026). The rest, at county, association and overseas contests (including Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Germany), are on the Brass Band Results page. The UK final is listed under Brass Band Results' name, "National Championship of Great Britain".
Grade and duration. "B - Easy" is Studio Music's difficulty label. Studio Music trades as "Studio Music with R. Smith", so for R. Smith titles it counts as the publisher's own grade (Brass Rep rule, 2026-11-08). Solid Brass Music (US) shows "3 (Medium)", a retailer label that is ignored. No publisher or composer duration was found. Rechecked 2026-11-08: neither Studio Music page (RS20054, RS21054) gives a duration.
Price. Studio Music lists score and parts at £79.95. A brassband.co.uk listing of the "Brass Band Set" (supplier slug "rsmith") gives £59.95. Studio Music's price is used because its listing names the publisher. No score-only price was found in the first pass; on 2026-11-08 Studio Music listed score only, RS21054, at £39.95, with the same B - Easy label.
Instrumentation. No parts list or score sample was found, so the section is empty.
Movements. Titles from 4barsrest and Studio Music, which agree. Studio Music says the movements run on without long breaks. Timings not found.
Media. The Regionals 2026 CD's label is not named on the review page (the catalogue prefix is DOY), and its release year is not stated. The Ever Ready recording dates from 1998. A Carlton Main Frickley Colliery CD with the second movement alone appeared only in a search snippet and was not checked.
Premiere. Not found. 4barsrest says the work was first used at the Regional Championships in the year it was written, which matches the 1950 Area contests on Brass Band Results.