Origins of the British Brass Band

[Recusant]

Having had the pleasure of enjoying a few performances by brass bands in England, I found this article of interest. Perhaps a bit arcane, and I imagine that brass bands may not be to everyone's taste. I couldn't resist the combination of music and history though. 

"Britain's brass bands older than thought: Study reveals they were invented by soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars" | Phys.org

Military musicians returning from the Napoleonic wars established Britain's first brass bands earlier than previously thought, new research reveals. The study undermines the idea that brass bands were a civilian and exclusively northern creation.

It is widely believed that brass bands originated with coal miners and other industrial communities in northern England and Wales between the 1830s and the 1850s. New evidence rewrites this history.

A University of Cambridge historian has found compelling evidence to show that Britain's earliest brass bands were founded by military musicians in the 1810s.

In a study published in The Historical Journal, Dr. Eamonn O'Keeffe argues that regimental bands first experimented with all-brass formats in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.

While wartime bands included woodwind instruments such as clarinets and bassoons, O'Keeffe points out that the 15th Regiment of Foot had already organized a bugles-only band by 1818 and that numerous regiments had established all-brass bands by 1830, taking advantage of new instrument designs developed at home and in Continental Europe.

The Life Guards, for example, performed on valved trumpets gifted by the Russian Czar. Local defense units also mustered brass bands, including a volunteer rifle corps in Paisley (1819) and yeomanry troops in Devon (1827) and Somerset (1829).

O'Keeffe also shows that veterans of the Napoleonic wars founded many of Britain's earliest non-military brass bands from the 1820s onwards. These ensembles often emerged far beyond the northern English and Welsh industrial communities with which they later became associated.

[Continues . . .]

[Icarus]

Brass bands are quite capable of producing remarkably pleasing music....of course that depends on one tastes.  Many of them are committed to martial type music but the capable ones can do justice to almost any kind of composition.

[Recusant]

Brass bands are quite capable of producing remarkably pleasing music....of course that depends on one tastes.  Many of them are committed to martial type music but the capable ones can do justice to almost any kind of composition.

Yes indeed. The programmes/"set lists" of the brass bands that I saw were appropriately varied. A march or three certainly, but dominated by arrangements of classical tunes, traditional tunes, and old and modern pop as well.

I had known of the phenomenon of the colliery bands and hadn't really speculated on how they came into existence, so appreciated the information in the article.

[Tank]

One poignant film worth watching on this subject is Brassed Off.

"The coal mine in a northern English village may be closing, which would also mean the end of the miners' brass band."

Brassed Off