This talk is not so much about the music itself as the social history of village and town bands.
The talk starts with my first memory of listening to a brass band, at New Brighton. The band turned out to be Besses O’ The Barn, not a bad introduction to the world of brass bands! Then it explores some of the origins of band music, like town waits. There is an illustration of the re-created York town waits with their old instruments, including shawm pipes. It explores church bands, choirs and west gallery bands, with literary connections to Thomas Hardy and Samuel Butler.
Coming on to more modern times it follows the rise of some famous bands, including Besses O’The Barn, Dobcross and Stalybridge bands and it looks at bands in industrial areas, especially colliery bands. In Nottinghamshire Bestwood Black Diamonds and Thoresby Colliery bands became well known names and at national level there was Grimethorpe and many more. Salvation Army bands soon began to appear on the scene in market squares, at processions and on countless High Streets.
Brass band competitions began to attract bands from all over the country, with the promise of fame, fortune and prestige. Feelings could run high at these events and one band complained that they had been ‘set upon’ on the way home on the train from a competition in Yorkshire ‘by thirteen thoroughly intoxicated members of a temperance band!
Bands were soon in demand to play at public events, the opening of new buildings, in public parks and at the seaside. Lots of villages and towns supported their own bands, often raising money by local activities and businesses, and bands are still very much a part of today’s social and musical scene.
