Constitutions in bands

Okiedokie of Oz

Okiedokie of Oz

Active Member
I don't know how you have it set up over there, but I am going to ask anyway.

Gladstone Municipal Band is about to go through and rewrite its constitution, as there was a lot of bickering over it in the last few years. As such, we are curious to see other band's documents to get ideas for our own.

Does your band have a constitution? Do you have a copy at home or lying around the band hall? Would you mind if I had a looksie???

If you answer yes to these questions, then pop me an email or pm and we'll talk turkey...if you can't help, 'tis cool.

Thanks!!
 
T

ted

Member
constitution??

do you really need one? I've never seen or heard of a band situation where a constitution would help.

Is it like a proper constitution such as
"Article 2.11
Only players who have been to more than 75% of the rehersals can have their travel expenses to the nationals subsidised by the band."

or is it like a
"You must respect the conductor during rehersals."
thing that's to be hung on the back of the bandroom?

Ted
 
D

daisygemma

Member
We recently rewrote our constitution when we were applying for a lottery grant for new uniforms.

I think that if you look on the Harrogtae Band web site there is a copy of their constitution on there.

Maybe SM or CG could confirm this.
 
Okiedokie of Oz

Okiedokie of Oz

Active Member
ted said:
constitution??

do you really need one? I've never seen or heard of a band situation where a constitution would help.
Click to expand...
Because of some law change in the early-mid 80's, brass bands in Queensland now fall under the Clubs and associations act. Therefore, we require a document to guide our association. The existing one is mainly about committee policies, member rights and so forth, with an interesting clause about banders entitled to a beer after every march.

We wish to tidy up some of the legal jargon in our document (massive fights last year of the constitution) plus make sure everything has some sort of governing principal.....eg Who decides what music is played in a band? While 99% of people will say the Musical director, there are cases of pushy committee members dictating to the bandmaster. So this will be one of the additions in our new constitution.

thanks for moving this out into the open Mods, and thanks for the link Straightmute.
 
Despot

Despot

Member
ted said:
constitution??
do you really need one? I've never seen or heard of a band situation where a constitution would help.
Click to expand...
Sure do! It's needed to clarify who is the legal owner of the band's property. Property has to be held a person or persons who in turn hold it in trust for the band, which would normally be stated in a constitution. These people are called trustees. A club can't hold property itself.

I know of a band, where the conductor left and the band came into practise and found all it's instruments gone. Everything, cornets to vibraphones. The band raised the money for them, but it was the conductors name that was on the invoices. The band had no other legal claim to them, so there was nothing that could be done. Conductor sold them and kept the cash!
 
E

eric

Member
I think that bands have to have a constitution to be eligible for lottery funding. Some bands have trustees rules as well.
 
Okiedokie of Oz

Okiedokie of Oz

Active Member
I am glad I asked you guiys to see yours, as I'm seeing some points that I haven't seen in any Aussie ones! Thanks guys, and keep sharing! The more constitutions, the merrier!
 
davidsait

davidsait

Member
Perhaps then the next task for the mods (after the much-awaited copyright document) is the tMP.com standard band constitution for those that don't have one?
 
TheMusicMan

TheMusicMan

tMP Founder
Staff member
davidsait said:
Perhaps then the next task for the mods (after the much-awaited copyright document) is the tMP.com standard band constitution for those that don't have one?
Click to expand...
... not a bad idea at all really... anyone fancy drafting one?
 
S

Streaky

New Member
Constitutions are essential these days, if only because of all the potential legal issues surrounding bands, eg contracts for concerts, ownership of property, handling club/association money. Of course licensing is now a bigger issue than it used to be... Constitutions set out who does what and who is responsible.

I'm getting involved in setting up a new band in Norfolk. Some of the players are reluctant to have a committee, let alone a constitution, but I can imagine running into all sorts of problems if we don't.

But it's important to remember not to get bogged down in official stuff and forget that we're all here to make music and have fun!

Mike
 
S

Soppy

Member
Our band constitution was erm, ambigous to say the least! We had to re-write large chunks of it alst summer. That led to a few heated debates, a lot of hassel and a lot of meetings!!!!!!

Have fun :D
 
E

Exhorn

New Member
IMPs have recently re-written their constitution. I've heard it's gone down well - try contacting one of them.
 
Y

youngman

Member
We have had our AGM tonight and some fool brought up the dreaded "constitution" word. I think constitutions should be ripped up and thrown in the bin because people seem to want to use it chapter and verse without any flexibility. Blah Blah moan... BTW The fool was my old man! :?
 
Okiedokie of Oz

Okiedokie of Oz

Active Member
The dreaded C word was initially brought up here by a new conductor, who felt that the committee wasn't acting legally by asking all member's opinions on all actions. He asked for a copy, read it, and then used it. Other, more legally minded, members reaad it too, and soon it was ruling our lives, but in different ways, by different people.
 
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