WhatSharp? said:
Just to add my own two penneth, and a slightly different slant on things....
Do we really need to be associated with these groups? Why the issue?, Ok so the banding movement may be a bit short on publicity but we are in the main Amateur musicians (and some are a damn sight better than so called proffessionals) and will always been seen as such no matter how hard we try.
Additionally I much prefer to do my playing to the local community which is what I feel banding was and is about. Not contests or big open air concerts but playing for local charity events, old folks homes and bringing music to those who would not normally get the chance. Also getting kids involved, getting them to appreciate music and giving them the chance to learn to play to any standard. Not the elitist rubbish you get from orchestras!, even my local music school wants entry requirements for kids to learn!, the local orchestra only accepts X number of players. When was the last time we saw these people sitting under a gazebo playing away for a chairty (for free!), or doing a job to 40 old folks in a community hall?.
Thats banding for me and I sometimes think that we miss the point a bit with our concerns about whether the movement is "recognised". TBH I'm not sure I would want to get involved witht these people.
Just my own opinion for what its worth.
Steve,
(a) If we really are better than some of these professionals, what better stage to display that fact than the Proms?
(b) The banding movement in general will still continue to do the charity jobs, parks, beer festivals (please!), old folks home anyway. I was referring more to our top bands
(c) Orchestral music 'elitist rubbish'? Hmmmmm..... As this is a friendly forum I won't comment further save to say that if we did get involved more with these people perhaps any elitist barriers that exist might come down!
Fact is that once upon a few decades ago, the brass band movement was 'infiltrated' by a man who wasn't a brass player but contributed a substantial amount of compositions and arrangements for the movement. A lot of his arrangements involved accompanying soloists (i.e. pianists); in arrangements of the first movements of the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos. He also produced a near full version of Handel's Messiah to be performed as though it were an orchestra with chorus and soloists; something which regularly gets performed to this day (or excerpts thereof). He got the top British conductors of the day (Sargent and Boult) to conduct his arrangements of the great classical works, even though Boult objected to conducting 'cut versions' of these works. When he worked for the BBC, he got brass bands to be a regular feature on the airwaves (oh for something similar now!). The amateur brass band seemed to be just as popular as the 'elitist' orchestras in the public eye, and presumably still had time to do the charity work etc. etc.
This person met with some resistance from the brass band regulars if the stories are to be believed, largely because he came from a more 'serious' music background but he went on to be, I believe, one of the most respected figures in the brass band world and perhaps the movement could still learn a lot from the legacy (if not necessarily all of the specific arrangements) he left behind. Denis Wright was his name.
I'd get a thrill to see our top bands more widely recognised for what they're capable of instead of limiting occasional 'public eye' exposure to the Floral Dance (which is, after all, some 27 years out of date) and Brassed Off. Is it any wonder that when something eventually comes along which makes brass bands 'famous', they flog it do death for however long they can? Why DO bands still play Floral Dance, Marcangelo's Clog Dance etc, etc, even now? Because it's something the
general public recognises with brass bands, not something that happens too often any more. It made them 'popular'. I'll be honest (and, maybe in the eyes of some, selfish and snobbish); I'd occasionally like a more 'elitist' audience than going through the yearly rounds of playing to five corpses and a dog in the local park in the p**sing rain, even if it is for charity.
And that's just my opinion, for what it's worth! ;-)