Some information about brass bands (pinched mainly from Wikipedia!)
A British-style brass band is a musical ensemble comprising a standardised range of brass and percussion instruments. The modern form of the brass band in the United Kingdom dates back to the 19th century, with a vibrant tradition of competition based around local industry and communities. The Stalybridge Old Band was formed in 1809 and was the first civilian brass band in the world and is still in existence. Bands using the British instrumentation are the most common form of brass band in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and are also widespread in continental Europe, Japan and North America.
The term 'silver band' is synonymous with 'brass band' in this sense; the vast majority of bands termed either 'brass' or 'silver' incorporate musicians playing both lacquered and silver-plated instruments.
Instrumentation
Brass bands in the British tradition are limited to cornets, flugelhorns, tenor horns, baritones, euphoniums, trombones, tubas (known as basses in brass bands), and percussion; but not trumpets or French horns, since they are orchestral and concert band instruments.
The core instrumentation used in British brass bands is as follows:
Cornet in E♭; (called a soprano cornet)
Cornets in B♭; (Front row: principal(x1), solo(x3), Back row: repiano(x1), 2nd(x2), 3rd(x2))
Flugelhorn in B♭;
Tenor Horns (sometimes called Alto Horns in the United States and Germany) in E♭; (solo, 1st, 2nd)
Baritones (Treble Clef B♭;) (1st, 2nd)
Tenor Trombones (Treble Clef B♭; in older scores Tenor Clef) (1st, 2nd)
Bass Trombone (Bass Clef)
Euphoniums (Treble Clef B♭;) (x2)
E♭ Basses (x2)
B♭ Basses (x2)
Percussion (x2/3/4)
The United States derivation of a brass band may also include clarinets, sousaphones, saxophones, flutes and other instruments. This evolved into the community band which can be either a concert band or marching band.
With the exception of the bass trombone and percussion, all parts are transposing and written in the treble clef, which means that for every instrument, from the big basses right up to the soprano cornet, the fingering for the written notes is similar. This system, which is unique to UK-style brass bands, ensures most parts can be covered when there is less than a full complement of players.
Many of the UK's bands originated as works bands or bands sponsored (and long identified with) various industrial concerns and coal mines. Of the leading bands, the Black Dyke Mills Band was sponsored by a wool mill, The YBS Band was until recently sponsored by the Yorkshire Building Society and originally the Hammond Sauce Works, the Foden, Fairey and Leyland Bands by the respective truck, aircraft and vehicle manufacturers, and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band was composed of miners and members of the associated coalfield community (see also the movie Brassed Off). With the decline of these industries the links between bands and their origins were dissolved, and membership is now drawn from all industries and parts of the community. Sudden loss of sponsorship, however, has caused many a top band to die. The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band have operated continually at the highest level without the aid of sponsorship; the band makes money to survive from their regular concerts, by selling recordings and other merchandise, and from public donations.
Contesting in the United Kingdom
British banding is competitive and there are many local and area competitions held throughout the year. At a National level, the main contest (the one that is used to determine a band's official "section") is the Besson National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
This competition is split into five sections organized similarly to a football league table (Championship section, 1st section, 2nd section, 3rd section and 4th section).
For this competition, the UK is split into 8 regions (London and Southern Counties, Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, Wales, West of England, Yorkshire). Each year, in March/April, bands compete in their local regional contest in whichever section they are graded. The top two or three placed bands in each section then go through to the National Finals. These are normally held in September/October and have recently been held in Harrogate (Sections 1-4) and the Royal Albert Hall (Championship) - as featured in the film Brassed Off.
Bands receive points each year in relation to their position (coming first gets 1 point, coming 9th gets 9 points). When the contest is over, the top two or three bands that have the lowest points total over the last three years will be promoted to the next section up from the following year. Likewise, bands with the most points will be relegated.
Salvation Army brass bands
Mainly based in the UK, Salvation Army brass bands have run parallel to the main brass band movement for almost a century. Bands range from small church bands to staff bands comprised of the best Salvation Army bandsmen in the area. The finest of them are of comparable standard to the Championship and 1st section bands. Their instrumentation is almost identical except for a minor difference in the cornet section whereby the repiano is dropped and the remainder of the row is made up of parts designated 1st and 2nd (two players each) rather than 2nd and 3rd; and that some major pieces have a split first trombone part, the lower part usually cued elsewhere in the band.
Outdoor banding
One of the main advantages of the brass band is that it is portable and capable of playing at any time and anywhere, even on the march. Marching and outdoor functions have been the preserve of the brass band for well over a century. Many UK brass bands are closely woven into the local community, performing outdoor civic duties throughout the year.
The bandstand became popular in the Victorian era, typically associated with the British brass band or military band. It is a simple construction which not only creates an ornamental focal point, but also serves acoustic requirements whilst providing shelter for the changeable British weather. Our local bandstand in West Park dates back to 1882 and is back in use after several years of decay. For more information visit;
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/listed/westpark.htm
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