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Please excuse my lack of knowlege. What is a brass band, as compared to a wind/symphonic/concert band? Is it just that there are ONLY brass players? Do these bands have percussionists? Is the music different?

Thanks for putting up with me.

jmerring wrote:Please excuse my lack of knowlege. What is a brass band, as compared to a wind/symphonic/concert band? Is it just that there are ONLY brass players? Do these bands have percussionists? Is the music different?

Thanks for putting up with me.

In brief, brass bands consist of cornets (not trumpets), alto horns (not "french"), flugelhorn, tenor trombones, bass trombone, euphoniums, baritones, Eb and BBb tubas and percussion. The makeup is pretty much fixed, as opposed to a concert band. Everyone, with the exception of the bass trombone, reads from treble-clef parts transposed to the key of their instrument.

There are differences in the way the parts are treated by the composer or arranger. For example, the Eb basses do not always double the BBb basses, but rather are treated as indiependent voices.

For more information, see:

http://www.bandsman.co.uk/

Try these definitions:

http://www.geocities.com/hbjbuk/whatis.htm

http://www.harrogate.co.uk/harrogate-band/misc07.htm

http://www.letchworthgardencity.net/band/indexg.htm

http://www.trianglebrass.org/bband.html

http://www.nabba.org/faq/

The last is from a past president of the NABBA, and should be definitive.

Brass bands have a distinctive sound which you can hear on many records.

One quick way to acquaint yourself with the English brass band tradition and enjoy a movie at the same time is to go out and rent "Brassed Off" at your local video store. Cheers.