Lindsay's Brass Band History
Catherine
Introduction :
This paper started life as an undergraduate unit assessment for my B.A. (Music)
degree at Deakin University in 1997. Having been involved in brass bands off and on
since age 10, I relished the opportunity to examine the historical context of the
musical form which I much enjoy.
You are most welcome to quote this paper; all I request is that you properly cite the
work and contact me, I'll be pleased to hear from you!
This work is Copyright: 1997 & 2005 by Lindsay R. Paterson, Melbourne, Australia.
Abstract :
Vital community music making or irrelivant and outmoded; where does the traditional
British-style brass band stand at the start of the New Millenium?
Brass bands have witnessed many changes over the last 150 years. While it is rightly
assumed that Great Britain is the historical centre of banding and this paper
concentrates primarily upon the development of banding in the British Isles, other
countries, bands and individuals will be mentioned herein as deemed appropriate by
the author.
It may benefit today's players to examine the history of this so-called "movement".
By viewing the past, the modern brass bander can gain a greater appreciation of a
musical form now enjoyed throughout Great Britain, northern Europe, North. America,
Japan and Australasia.
PART ONE
A Brief History of the Development of Brass Bands in Great Britain.
by Lindsay R. Paterson.
Brass Bands did not first appear in a form that we would readily recognise today.
The Harvard Dictionary of Music (1970) may not be incorrect in defining Brass Bands
as simply “a group of brass instruments”. However, the actual instrumentation that
would now identify what we refer to as the “traditional” British-style Brass Band has
seen many decades of development and evolution throughout much of the 19th Century.
However, this is not to state that that brass instruments have not been associated
together prior to this period of history.
Early instrumentation :
The ancestor of the Trombone (or Sackbut in old English) first arrived in England in
Tudor times and was played mostly by foreigners, many of whom hailed from Venice.
From the early 1500’s, Trombones held important functions of playing chamber, dance
and processional music. Later in the century they came to support sacred music and,
at times, were actively involved in church liturgy.
Apart from royalty, provincial employers of trombonists were the “waits” who were
initially formed during the Middle Ages to act as watchmen. Part of their function
developed as instrumentalists who would play to “raise alarm or.... herald a
distinguished visitor”. The somewhat tenuous role of waits in the later development
of seminal brass bands will be discussed later.
By the early 18th. Century, the Trombone had fallen into disuse, only to be
reintroduced into Britain in 1784, once again in the hands of imported musicians.
Unlike the Trombone, natural Trumpets and Horns were not fully chromatic, given the
absence of valves at that time. They played only the natural harmonic series.
Trumpets lent themselves admirably to militaristic uses and slowly gained in
popularity with the decline of the Trombone. They found a lasting voice in the music
of Purcell, Clarke and Blow.
Early instrument groupings :
The earliest military-style bands which featured brass and woodwinds appeared in the
1600’s, but they gained greater popularity mid-way into the next century. They
usually consisted of 6 to 12 players who would play from a selection of percussion,
trumpet, clarinet, fife, flute, horn, bassoon, serpent and (sometimes) trombone.
Church bands came about in rural areas, doubling and supporting song parts. This was
due to the 1644 Puritan ban upon church organs. While not every organ disappeared,
instrumental ensembles were the logical step to redress the widespread lack of
accompaniment for the liturgy.
Neither did every church form its own band. Instrumentation mainly consisted of
strings and woodwind; brass was rarely utilised. However when organs began their
general reappearance from the late 18th Century, displaced musicians moved in a more
secular direction, possibly laying the foundation for latter day community ensembles.
“Bands” were often cited as being an important part of community life and
celebrations in the first decades of the 19th Century, but little if any detail
survives concerning their actual instrumentation. Herbert (1988) offers an
interesting possible background to the three main present-day band movements in
Britain :
- the present day BRASS band is roughly the modern equivalent of the City Waits;
- the Salvation Army is the modern day church band;
- the modern Military/concert band is descended from the original British Army bands.
While the first point may carry some validity, the other two may be a little tenuous.
True, one can draw what seems to be obvious similarities in the ethos of old church
and Salvationist bands. However, the first Salvation Army ensembles came about with
the voluntary introduction of instrumental playing by members themselves, and NOT
from any known link to established groups from the established mainstream church.
The British Army influence cannot be ignored in the formation of community bands.
The two most striking, and lasting, similarities are the presence of marches in the
present day repertoire and the general wearing of uniforms by bands at every level of
ability. When soldiers, with their attendant bands, were sent to areas of unrest
during the turbulent social period of the Industrial Revolution, the workers who went
on to form the early bands were obviously impressed with what they saw in the
military music scene (if not the brutal methods employed to put down the disgruntled
populace!). There is more than a hint of irony that Manchester’s Free Trade Hall,
venue for more recent British Open band championships, is sited upon the former St.
Peters Field, place of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.
It must also be noted that army musicians returning from the Napoleonic conflict
would have moved back into civilian life with an ongoing interest in music making in
a band context.
By the early 1800’s, few “waits” survived; and those that did by 1835 were
obliterated by the Municipal Corporation Act of that year. However, there seems to
be little evidence to propose that former city waits had any pivotal influence upon
early brass/pre brass groupings.
Early military, church and village bands provided “an important legacy for the
eventual development of the brass band movement” in that “a tradition of literate,
instrumental ensemble music making outside the professional, middle-and-upper class
enclaves in which such activity had previously been centred”.
Pre ‘brass-only’ ensembles :
Over many years of banding activities, there has been debate as to who is the
“oldest” band. An immediate problem was, and still is, the lack of reliable
evidence to substantiate a claim of longevity. The other problem is the actual
instrumentation at time of formation.
Several top brass bands have their roots far back before all-brass ensembles. Besses
o’ th’ Barn Band started life as Clegg’s Reed Band in 1818 (although Howarth suggests
the 1790’s), and later changed its title to Besses o’ th’ Barn Military Band. Black
Dyke Mills Band, arguably the most famous brass band in the world, began in 1816 as a
brass and reed group in the Yorkshire village of Queen’s Head (now Queensbury) with
one John Foster as a member. Foster ultimately founded a textile mill in 1854 and
took on the struggling village band as part of his weaving enterprise.
By the late 19th. Century, other bands were also claiming a distinguished lineage.
The Stalybridge Old Band commenced in 1814, competing in the first know contest in
Sheffield in 1818. The New Mills Old Prize Band started in 1812 as a brass and reed
ensemble, as did the Coxlodge Band in 1809.
PART TWO
Brass only ensembles :
The main reason for the absence of all-brass groups early in the early 19th century
was probably the lack of chromatic flexibility in many brass instruments. Keyed
bugles, such as Halliday's (1810), could provide a certain amount, however there was
a heavy reliance upon clarinets and flutes to provide the lead melody lines. Even
into the first half of last century, it was not unheard of to have clarinets adding
flexibility to the lead lines of a "brass" band, as indicated by some published
repertoire of the era.
The invention of the piston valve around 1815 by Blumel, and its subsequent
development by Stolzel, led to considerably greater flexibility in playing. Original
documentation for this period is sadly lacking, but it appears that the first mixed
bands to convert to brass only did so in the early to mid 1830's. Even then,
standardisation of instrumentation is something that was not achieved until very late
in the century. Furthermore, not every isolated, non-contesting band played with
standard instrumentation, a situation that probably continued well into the first
half of the 20th century.
Mid 19th Century Instrumentation :
By the standards of today, early brass band instrumentation seems rather
weird........ Early cornets and trombones would be easily recognised; however the
presence of such items as the french horn, valve trombone, cornopean, ophicleide,
bass horn and serpent would be very much out of place in the modern brass band!
Arguably, the biggest contribution to modern band instrumentation was made by
Belgian-born Adolphe Sax, who patented the Saxhorn in Paris in 1843. This proved to
be quite controversial when he became "...ruinously embroiled in litigation..." in
defence of his patent.
John Distin and his five sons were largely responsible for the introduction of the
Saxhorn into Great Britain, where it quickly became popular thanks to its use by
Louis Jullien's orchestra. It showcased the Distins in 1844 on a set of Saxhorns
newly acquired from Sax in Paris. Distin had commissioned Sax to make a set of
instruments of differing sizes and pitches after seeing a concert organised by Hector
Berlioz which featured Sax's invention. The family ultimately gained the British
agency for the distribution of Saxhorns.
These instruments also created considerable interest at the Great Exhibition at
Crystal Palace in 1851. Although virtuosic brass performance would have possible on
valves soon after their invention, valve skill was not widespread until the 1840's.
Indeed, the best British players gained their reputations with the use of keys and
slides between the years of 1800 to 1840.
Brass instruments became very popular in Britain around this time. As is true for
today's young learner, brass provided a sturdy, easy to hold instrument that provided
durability and comparative ease of mass production. This led to the availability of
reasonably cheap equipment. Costs fell in partly due to the removal of tariffs
associated with the Cobden-Chevalier treaty of 1860 and increased volume and
competition among retailers and manufacturers. Large scale production was indeed in
place by the 1850's, as indicated by the early success of Manchester maker Joseph
Higham. Also, given the increasing numbers of music teachers and a new social
environment, brass went through a boom that showed no signs of slowing until after
the turn of the century.
Repertoire :
Obviously, no specialised, commercial music was available for these early bands. In
the 1830's, the first journals appeared which would provide the subscribing band with
several pieces per annum. Bands would subscribe on an annual basis and receive an
agreed number of transcriptions which usually allowed for the non-standard
instrumentation of the day.
Richard Smith's 'Champion Brass Band Journal' appeared in 1857. In 1875, Thomas
Wright and Henry Round founded a journal in Liverpool. Both companies survive to
this day. It is not unreasonable then to propose that the journal publishers
probably had a long term influence upon the standardisation of instrumentation, given
that it was commercially more viable to produce set print runs for standard
instruments. Aside from commercially available music, bandmasters probably did their
own arrangements from piano reductions that were comparatively cheap and readily
available; this pre-dated the journals and is a practise which still exists to this
day and usually reflects the musical ability of the band. These home-grown,
specialist arrangements would grow in the form of a manuscript book for each
instrument grouping.
(For a greater examination of this topic, please refer to the paper by the same
author, published at www.testpiece.i8.com )
Further development :
Bands flourished in this exciting climate of growth. Three types of bands began to
emerge mid-way through the 19th Century. The first tended to be on a 'paternalistic'
basis, linked to a single workplace or beneficiary. The second were subscription
bands which usually enjoyed the support of the wider community, temperance societies
or mechanics institutes. After 1859, a third type, being bands of the Volunteer
Movement, came into existence.
That is not to say that all three types of bands evolved and existed in isolation
from each other. To the contrary, there was much cross-polination between them,
probably typified by the fact that some Volunteer Bands were merely former
subscription bands with a changed name.
Probably the most famous of the paternalistic grouping is Black Dyke Mill Band. When
taken over by John Foster in 1854, the old village band of Queenshead was provided
with valved instruments, a rehearsal venue and a 'band teacher'. Another of these
bands was the Cyfartha Band of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. It formed in 1838 under
the direct patronage of industrialist Robert Thompson Crawshay. Some players for
these 'private' bands came from travelling shows such as Wombwell's Circus and
Menagerie, Batty's Menagerie, Howe's Great London Circus and Cooke's Equestrian
Circus. One can understand the attraction for these itinerant musicians of not
having to travel the length of the country to earn their living. Astute
industrialists and mine owners, perhaps noting the violent social upheavals of Europe
and closer to home, felt it prudent to "...keep their workers happy".
For a reasonably short time, the Volunteer Movement witnessed a proliferation of
bands. With the British Empire ever expanding, authorities became fearful that, with
the cream of the nation's forces scattered around the globe, the circumstances would
be right for a foreign army to invade. Parliament enabled the setting up of a
network which would encourage able-bodied males to train as reserve militia. Soon,
the advantages of a resident band to provide appropriate music for drill and special
parades became apparent. Some bands, probably lured by the prospect of secure
funding, equipment, uniforms etc., simply changed their name and transferred in their
entirety to the local Volunteer unit. Military bandmasters ultimately had a lasting
influence upon the brass band movement as musical directors, adjudicators or music
arrangers.
The first Temperance band appeared in 1836. This was the Bramley Band. The first
musically successful group of this kind was the Mossley Temperance Saxhorn Band that
did well at the Belle Vue (Manchester) contest in 1853.
Encouragement for the fledgling movement came from an unexpected source. According
to Herbert, an attitude of "rational recreation" was proposed by some in the
upper-middle and upper classes. It was a concern of some in these higher classes
that the working class was susceptible to "many ills" and that banding, as well as
hand bell and vocal choirs, would provide a "panacea". One W. H. Wills wrote in an
1859 edition of Household Words, "....the habits and manners of these men appear to
have been decidedly improved by these softening influences".
Another great standardising influence upon both instrumentation and repertoire was
contesting. One early contest (1821) was of an impromptu nature and saw Besses o'
th' Barn Band win by simply playing the anthem God save the King! By mid century,
the need for a common testpiece in higher profile competitions, such as the British
Open, resulted in the first of such pieces, this being Orinthea by James Melling
(1855).
Contests themselves appear to have been around almost as long as bands. Elgar
Howarth is not far wrong when he states that "contests are the lifeblood of the band
world". He proposes that they probably started through "natural rivalry" and appear
to have been partly influenced by similar European events witnessed by key British
persons of influence, as in the case of Lady Chichester, who encouraged the Burton
Constable contest of 1845. It is speculated that that Her Ladyship had some contact
with France where contests of this nature were popular.
Contests in general, especially events such as "The Open", grew quickly in
popularity, thanks in part to the expanding rail network throughout Britain at that
time. Railway companies found it commercially attractive to offer special group
concession rates which allowed not only bands, but also their supporters, to travel
long distances in pursuit of their hobby. James Melling and John Jennison promoted a
fife and drum contest at Manchester's Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in 1852 and added
a band contest the following year. Despite the late arrival of some excursion
trains, approximately 16,000 attended the 1853 contest.
PART THREE
Personalities :
Three important conductors emerged from the 19th Century, these being Alexander Owen,
Edwin Swift and John Gladney. It is indicative that only one of these three came
from a "musical" family as such, this being Gladney. The others came from a more
working class background; Owen was an orphan and Swift worked in the textile industry
up until age 32 when he finally become a professional conductor. He had continued to
work in a knitting mill from several years despite being a successful arranger and
musical director.
Contest promoters were also important to the fledgling brass band movement. As
mentioned previously, Messers Melling and Jennison were responsible for the first
British Open at Belle Vue. In 1859, Enderby Jackson's contest for hand bell ringers
proved his organisational skill and the following year, his "great National Contest"
and Sydenham Amateur Contest, run over two consecutive days at the London Crystal
Palace, proved enormously successful with The Times newspaper reporting an estimated
audience for the first day's massed performance of 1,200. Although this event did
not survive past the following year, the seed was sown for important Crystal Palace
contests some 40 years hence.
The Salvation Army :
Charles Fry and his sons played at a Salvationist "musical service" on the 7th of
July, 1878. Their music apparently proved useful in calming and focusing the
gathered "mob" and this concept was picked up the next year in Consett. By 1880, the
corps of Nottingham, Hull and Whitechapel utilised music as part of their worship and
evangelistic activities.
The Army's founder, General Booth, possibly noting some of the problems encountered
by volunteer and "strayed" Temperance bands, moved to keep his bands separated from
the mainstream. This consolidated in 1883 when the Salvationist's own Music
Department was founded to produce it's own repertoire. Later in 1889, this was
expanded into the manufacture, repair and sales of musical instruments. Most of
these restrictions were to survive well into the next century.
The "Golden Age"(?) :
The popularity of the brass band movement arguably peaked around the last decade of
the 19th Century. Banding had found a voice in many specialist publications, the
most famous and long lasting being the weekly British Bandsman which was founded by
Sam Cope in 1887.
Outdoor engagements in parks and in seaside resorts were at the height of popularity
and contests offered not only cash prizes, but also instruments to the most
successful competitors. Probably the towering figure of this era was John Henry
Iles. In 1889, while on a business trip in Manchester, a hotel porter recommended he
attend a local contest for entertainment. With no prior interest in the movement, he
was highly inspired by what he saw and heard. Upon his return to London, he set
about acquiring both the British Bandsman paper and publishers R. Smith and Co.
With the Boer War at its height, he proposed and organised a Grand Patriotic Concert
with massed bands and gained the Royal Albert Hall as the venue with the assistance
of Sir Arthur Sullivan. The major work was the Sullivan arrangement of Rudyard
Kipling's patriotic poem The Absent Minded Beggar. The event was a great success and
Sullivan, who had shown some initial reluctance, was greatly moved by the experience.
With tears in his eyes, he apparently asked Iles, "What can be done for these
fellows?" As Sullivan was one the Crystal Palace directors, he ensured that the 1900
National Brass band Championship would return there.
Dissatisfaction was growing with the use of classical art music as testpieces
arranged by similar composers year after year (like Charles Godfrey from 1872 to
1908). In a visionary move, Iles commissioned Percy Fletcher to compose the first
original testpiece..... Labour and Love in 1913. While meeting with resistance from
conservative elements within the movement, this piece became firmly established
within the repertoire and is still heard to this day.
It was Iles who organised the world tour of the Besses o' th' Barn Band in 1906-07
which took in America, Australasia, Fiji, Hawaii and Canada. They went abroad again
in 1909, this time visiting South Africa. Besses' tours had a tremendous effect in
the brass band world, not the least here in Australia, where their visit to Melbourne
brought the central city to a standstill when thousands of well-wishers flocked to
see them.
At least two leading composers/arrangers led the movement from the 19th to the 20th
Centuries. James Ord Hume (1864-1932) was a highly regarded composer, arranger and
adjudicator. Born in Scotland, he became solo cornet for the Royal Scots Greys in
1880. He was responsible for many developments within the movement, such as
arranging the Test at the reestablished Crystal Palace contest in 1900. He was
responsible for some original band works, such as his Bohemian Suite. His
adjudication activities brought him here to Australia, including the Ballarat Royal
South Street contests of 1902 and 1924.
William Rimmer (1862-1936) is still regarded by some to be the "King" of brass bands.
He was a top cornetist with the Besses and Kingston Mills bands, then started to
train the relatively unknown Wingates Temperance and Irwell Springs bands. Early in
the century he was appointed editor of the Cornet Brass and Military Band Journal and
quickly gained a big reputation as an arranger and composer, especially for his
marches. His contest record was most successful over the very short time 1905 to
1909.
The Mortimer family started with father Fred (born 1879) who was a highly regarded
conductor, particularly of Foden's Motors Band. With his sons Alex (euphonium) and
Harry (cornet), arguably "the most famous bandsman of all", the Mortimers influenced
more than one generation of bandsmen with their skilful conducting and virtuosic
playing. Harry's reputation started when he began cornet at age 5, his Nationals
debut at 11. He was conducting the Luton Juniors at 14 and worked in theatre pit
orchestras for 10 years while still in his teens. At 22 he became Solo Cornet with
his farther's Fodens band and then crossed over to the Halle Orchestra in 1927. By
World War Two he had been Principal Trumpet with the Liverpool Philharmonic and
B.B.C. Northern Orchestras before being appointed Supervisor of Brass and Military
Bands with the B.B.C. He maintained this position for many years and fulfilled an
important role during the War years with band music much in demand on radio.
Difficult times :
Undoubtedly, the Great War had a disastrous effect on a movement that had already
started a decline after the turn of the new century. The sheer waste of human life
decimated the younger generation of players. War even effected the Belle Vue
Nationals which were cancelled twice this century for "the duration" of conflict.
The Twenties and Thirties saw much social upheaval and industrial unrest. Howarth
speculates that the Second World War did not have the wide ranging detrimental effect
that the First did, given that the Second War helped by encouraging a general boom
after the Depression.
Obviously, works bands connected with essential industries for the war effort
benefited greatly during this time. Also, the War gave female players a chance with
many bands due the inevitable absence of regular male members. The Cable and
Wireless Band in London was formed in 1940 by Sir Edward Wilshaw to provide a musical
outlet initially for telegram boys, but later in the War, their female colleagues
were also able to join.
Later in the 1940's, changes were still afoot. The nationalisation of the coal mines
caused the disappearance of some bands associated with privately owned pits. The
post-war boom saw more works bands come into being while others ceased to exist when
the economic bubble burst. This era also brought increased changes in leisure
activities, many of which were more home centred, like television, radio and
phonograph records. The late Fifties and early Sixties brought direct competition
from Rock & Roll music, especially for the hearts and minds of potential young
players.
The Modern Era :
During the years around 1970, bands witnessed a subtle shift in their entertainment
activities. Outdoor work virtually disappeared for many and was replaced by indoor
concerts. Since early in the century, brass bands had played in High Pitch well
after the musical mainstream had moved to A=440. Instrument makers Boosey and Hawkes
announced in 1965 that they could no longer afford to maintain two separate assembly
lines for high and standard instruments. Over the next few years, top bands
reequipped themselves with new instruments, while poorer bands had to make do with
conversion of old instruments. Other, more isolated, non-contesting groups probably
stayed with high pitch for an indefinite time.
Television finally came to recognise bands in a small way with the Granada Band of
the Year contest, which explored the concept of "contest as entertainment". Bram Gay
once said that entertainment contests ".........introduced new fans to the excitement
of a band competition (with) the diversity of a band concert".
Quite unexpectedly, the Brighouse and Rastrick Band recorded a hit record with The
Floral Dance in 1976. However, like most novelties and fads, it was soon forgotten
and did little to change "normal" people's stereotyped attitude of bands. More
recently, the popular movie "Brassed Off", which also featured Floral Dance, seems to
have also given the brass band movement greater exposure.
The late 1960's have been compared to the early 1800's in that, just as the Sixties
saw an increase in youth bands, similar conditions existed for the seminal band
movement. During both periods, brass was (and still is) regarded as hard wearing as
suitable for a "decent noise" being attained quickly by learners. Thatcherism, with
it's associated shrinking of education funds (hence, lack of instruments), saw a
similar situation to the earliest days of banding with a lack of equipment.
Even the traditional venue of the British Open changed after 128 years. In 1982, the
year that Australia's Hawthorn City Band competed, the old Belle Vue site was
demolished and Free Trade Hall in Manchester was used from 1997. In 1998, the Open
was in Birmingham's Symphony Hall; for the first time ever NOT in Manchester.....a
point not lost on many disappointed people in the banding fraternity.
The last two decades have seen increased financial difficulties across all levels of
banding in Great Britain. Inevitably, changing financial conditions and sponsorships
for works bands have meant many name adjustments or wholesale changes. Anecdotal
evidence abounds. No players have actually worked in Black Dyke Mills for many years
and their reputation does not make them immune from financial problems. In 1996,
Dyke chose not to defend their European Championship title due to the estimated
20,000 pound expense of doing so. With the closure of the Desford Colliery, its band
became Desford Colliery Dowty Band. Wingates dropped it's "Temperance" tag and, in a
rather ironic development, signed a sponsorship deal with Bass Breweries! Fodens
ceased to support it's band but the name was initially retained when the Britannia
Building Society took over the sponsorship. Britannia eventually imposed its name on
the band, only to relinquish control more recently -- thus allowing a welcome return
of the Fodens name, thanks to its new sponsor Antoine Courtois Musical Instruments.
Possibly the most telling indication of the difficulties faced by bands is the case
of the ensemble formed in 1968 as the Stanshawe Band. It became the Sun Life Band in
1978 when supported by the Sun Life Assurance Society, an association which looked
doubtful by early 1996 due to business mergers and subsequent changes at the senior
management level. By November of that year, the band were reported as being on the
skids with the prospect of folding without a new sponsor. Thankfully, within a month
its members voted to soldier on under the Stanshawe name. The final word comes from
an ex-Musical Director, Prof. Walter Hargreaves, when he wrote in the British
Bandsman that he was “very sad and very angry that“ players had to be paid before
they would continue.
Conclusion......A Positive Future? :
Despite many years of overt sexism in brass bands, most of the movement has caught up
with the rest of the world regarding equal opportunity for female players. However,
some top level British bands still seem to employ a "glass ceiling" mentality by
simply not allowing females into their ranks.
But by the late 1990's, at least one of these recalcitrant groups showed signs of
softening with the fact that a high profile Championship Grade band used a female
percussionist at the British Open, albeit on an emergency basis!
A quick look through any recent British Bandsman weekly will invariably picture or
mention one of the many youth bands which are multiplying at a pleasing rate
throughout Great Britain. Despite the doomsayer predictions for the brass band
movement, I am confident that it will continue to grow and evolve into the next
century, not only thanks to this new generation of keen youngsters, but also due to a
more open minded approach from its participants.
Nev
ela...@hotmail.com
LP :)