1972
The first plate
Somchai Wattana hand-engraves a beginning-band Ode to Joy on zinc in a rented room off Sukhumvit Soi 23. Forty copies sell in year one.
Est. 1972 · Bangkok
Half a century of putting the right notes on the page.
From a single engraving desk on Sukhumvit to one of Asia's most-played catalogues of concert-band, beginning-band and ensemble editions — in print and digital.
53
Years in Print
4,218
Titles in Catalogue
312
Composers
28
Editors & Engravers
The Beginning
A desk, a slab of zinc, and one unreasonable standard.
In 1972, Somchai Wattana returned to Bangkok from his conducting studies in Vienna with a trunk of scores and a complaint: the band music for sale in Thailand was riddled with errors and impossible parts. Wrong transpositions, missing cues, ranges no twelve-year-old could play. A young band could spend a year fighting the page instead of making music.
So he began again from the full scores. The first Star Music edition — a beginning-band setting of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, hand-engraved on zinc plates in a back room off Soi 23 — sold forty copies in its first year. It also did something quieter: it was playable. Directors noticed. Then school programmes noticed.
Fifty-three years later the plates are digital and the catalogue runs to thousands of titles, but the complaint that started it all is still the house standard. Every part is checked at the stand. Every cue and cross-cue is placed on purpose. Nothing leaves the building until a real band can play it.
Engraved portrait of the founder at the engraving desk, 1972
1972
First Edition Printed
4,218
Titles in Print Today
62
Conservatoire Partners
1.4M
Scores Delivered
A Short History
Five decades, told in editions.
1981
The Beginning Band Series
A graded series for Thai school bands launches. For the first time, beginners across the country play from parts written for their hands and their range.
1994
The Concert Band catalogue
Star Music begins commissioning and engraving original concert works and major reprint editions — the foundation of today's Concert Band Series and the Vaclav Nelhybel Edition.
2008
Engraving goes digital
The zinc plates retire. Scores and parts are now set with digital engraving software — same standard, sharper print, and the archive begins its slow migration to PDF.
2017
Instant PDF delivery
Every edition becomes available as a printable PDF set, delivered in minutes. A full set of parts the night before a rehearsal is now possible.
2026
Thousands of titles, and counting
The catalogue spans beginning band to advanced festival works and the Nelhybel reprints — still engraved, still checked at the stand, in the same building off Soi 23.
An edition is a promise to the composer that you will not put words in their mouth — and a promise to the player that you have done the worrying for them.— Somchai Wattana, founding editor
What We Stand For
Three things we refuse to compromise.
Parts that play
Every part is checked at the stand for range, rests and page turns. Cross-cues keep the band whole whatever the instrumentation, so a director can rehearse on day one instead of rewriting parts by hand.
Craft on the page
Concert-size engraving, archival cream paper, page turns placed where a player can take them. A score is a working tool, and it should feel like one in the hand and on the stand.
Music for everyone
From a child's first method book to a diploma recital programme, and from a printed edition to an instant PDF. Educator pricing keeps the best texts within reach of every classroom.
How an Edition Is Made
From manuscript to music stand.
Choose & arrange
An arranger picks a work that will reward a developing band, then scores it to grade — sensible ranges, limited rhythms, and a melody every section gets to carry.
Cross-cue the set
Every essential line is cued across several instruments, so the music stays complete whether twelve players or fifty turn up. Nothing important lives in only one part.
Engrave score & parts
The full score and every part are engraved and laid out with the page turns and rehearsal marks a band needs. A second engraver proofs each part against the score.
Test & publish
Where we can, the set is read by a real ensemble before release. It then enters the catalogue as a printed set and as a printable PDF, delivered in minutes.
The Sukhumvit showroom — shelves of cream editions in warm light
Come and See Us
The showroom off Soi 23.
The editorial office and showroom have stood at the same address since 1979. Hear our editions, leaf through full scores and parts, and talk band repertoire with the people who engrave it.
118 Sukhumvit Soi 23, Khlong Toei NueaBangkok 10110, Thailand
Mon–Sat · 10:00–19:00 · +66 2 555 0182