Professional Concert Bands

[adam0408]

I have an idea.... A dream.... Perhaps the process is already in the works, and if it is, someone tell me because I think that would be great.

Here it is: As all of you know, it seems that the only option for those of us that want to play professionally in a concert band type ensemble is the military. Correct me if I am wrong (if this already exists somewhere), and I will be happy. I think it would be great if major cities (or communities with lotsa cash) were able to form concert bands along with (or in stead of)symphony orchestras. The benefits of this, the way I see it, are multiple.

1. Reach a wider audience with different tastes. As you know, concert band music is MUCH different than orchestral music. Oftentimes it can be much more bombastic, flashy, and entertaining than a stuffy orchestral performance (dont get me wrong, strings are great in their place) This may just attract a bunch of fans to the "classical" music community.

2. It would kind of be like a circular benefit thing. People that would not normally go to see the symphony may be attracted by the concert band concept, and thus get turned on to a whole new brand of music, causing them to be interested in orchestral music.... etc etc.

3. This would give excellent brass and woodwind players more options for employment. This would foster much better enthusiasm down in the ranks also, because kids would see that maybe there is a future in that hunk of metal they hold in their hands.

4. Composers would have more outlets for their music, resulting in more money for them, and more quality and exciting new pieces for us the players.

5. In the long run, it might just revolutionize the whole musical community.

I want to play in an ensemble of great players someday, but I am not sure that I want to play orchestral music. The options for me and my peers that have similar ambitions seem to be not that numerous or great. I also find it odd that this has not been already a ubiquitous phenomena. College concert bands flourish, but there arent many outlets for these band players professionally. What gives? There is literature out there, and there are players out there, so the only missing step seems to be getting out there and forming a band and getting money for it. I know there are community bands and such, but these guys dont get payed, and sometimes the players are less than stellar (though I do not really fault them for this)

So what do you people think? Is this a viable idea, or am I just dreaming impossible dreams?

Feel free to provide any information that may make me feel like an ignorant fool. That is what the internet is for.

[Barney]

so the only missing step seems to be getting out there...... and getting money for it.

Yep.... that's the issue. Raising the kind of money it would take to pay salaries for an entire concert band and cover the expenses (renting concert halls, etc.) is what keeps ventures like this from happening. I know someone who tried this... and after bouncing a rather large check to the Canadian Brass, who he had brought in as guest artists on a concert he had overestimated audience interest on.... ended up with his band in bankruptcy. He vanished for awhile, and then came back to town and started a brass quintet which is somewhat successful. He knew his limits.

But good luck with your dream... I'm now involved with another concert band that is at the beginning of this same process. I think it can work... IF the band gets a board together that can raise a ton of money. The rest of the work, comparitively, is easy.

[tubeast]

There are examples of company-owned bands that started off as "normal" workers forming an orchestra as pastime-activity way back when. They evolved to serve as a means of representation to the firm, so they receive funding and the members can spend at least part of their working hours on rehearsals and practise. One of those is the "Phillips Harmonie" from the Netherlands, an outstanding concert band. I don´t know, they might have hired professionals for some chairs, too. This used to be the case with German police-bands, BTW. Officers who played instruments were encouraged to join the "Musik-Corps" and just do half of their service, rehearsing the other half of the day. Nowadays, these are full-time musicians and they started to hire professionals right from conservatories years ago.
As far as full-pro-concert bands go I dunno. There are some commercially successful polka-bands in Germany, Austria and bordering countries, but this is totally different. These people get payed to fill and entertain a 5000-people beerfest-tent with thirsty admirers going maniac. There is a CD-market in there, of course.
I guess the whole idea would involve establishing a new tradition of highly respected ensembles similar to the way Canadian Brass and the likes have emancipated.

[Joe Baker]

Once again, Texas leads the way. The Dallas Wind Symphony, at least one member of which is a frequent poster on this site, is a pro organization. I don't know whether anyone is payed a "full-time" wage, or if it is strictly per-service.
_____________________
Joe Baker, who was -- for some reason -- never asked to play with them

[Steve Marcus]

Although not strictly "concert bands" in instrumentation, River City Brass Band (Pittsburgh) and Brass Band of Battle Creek are excellent professional (paid) ensembles.

The town of Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, pays a small stipend per service to members of the Wheaton Municipal Band. There are probably many more examples like this across the US.

[leehipp]

Adam,

Contaact Kim Cambell with the DWS -

www.dws.org/kjcampbell.htm

Kim is the founder of the organization, I had the pleasure of being one of the original tuba players in the group along with Richard Morgan. There was a LONG evolution from the beginnings to where the group is now and Kim is the best person to glean the most info out of.

Tell him I insisted you speak with him.

Good luck, ideas and dreams like these are always worth pursuing.

[Bill Troiano]

It is all about the money. Back in the mid 80's and through the early 90's on Long Island, there were at least 3 professional concert bands that paid union band scale per service. Most of the work came in the summer playing outdoor park gigs. At the peak, I was playing 30-40 gigs a year (mostly in the summer) with these 3 bands. One of those bands recently folded ($$), and the other 2 play less than half of the gigs that they used to. So, now I'm down to under 10 concert band gigs a year. It's all about the money!

[Teubonium]

The Denver Municipal Band is the oldest PROFESSIONAL concert band in the country. Founded in the 1860s.

Check them out at:

http://www.dmamusic.org/dmb/

[sinfonian]

I have always assumed that if you want to play in a professional concert band you join one of our superb military bands. I bet the number of musicians employed full time in these band comes close to the number of musicians employed full time in various orchestras around the country.

My 2¢ for what it is worth.

[MartyNeilan]

With all of the high school bands out there playing grade 5 and 6 music (and a few actually playing it well), and all the college bands and wind ensembles putting on regular concerts for free or a nominal cost (not to mention free cost of admission to military band concerts) is there really a market???

Marty "who likes the idea but would not pay for what he could hear free" Neilan

[Mark]

Blechschaden, made up of the brass section of the Munich Philharmonic, is huge in Europe: http://www.blechschaden.de/

I have one of their CDs and it is really good.

BTW, the tuba player is an American, Tom Walsh.

[tofu]

Naperville Municipal Band (NMB) - 90 members - started as the Light Guard Band in 1859. Became the City Band in 1931 when at the height of the depression the tax payers passed a band tax on themselves to pay for the band. Recently (last year) the City of Naperville, IL passed a Culture Tax of 1% on restaurant meals which brought in $2.5 million last year and goes every year to support the Arts such as my group, the DuPage Symphony, Mens Glee Club, the Young Naperville Singers, the DuPage County Childrens Museum, the Riverwalk, sculptures etc.

We get paid and most members are music teachers/band directors etc although there are also folks like me (investment banker) who have non- music day jobs. The City recently finished our $2.5 million rehearsal hall and outdoor performance center. We draw around 2500 every thursday during the summer except the 4th of July when it is around 10,000.

We play during the rest of the year indoors and draw capacity crowds but they are limited to around 700 by the size of the indoor auditoriums we use in the area. The city is most supportive of the Arts.

We will be playing at the American Concert Bands (ACB) convention on Friday night April 15th for anyone who is going and wants to hear us.

http://www.napervilleband.org/

[Bandmaster]

The Long Beach Municipal Band has been around for almost 100 years. The famous cornet soloist of Sousa fame, Herbert L. Clarke, conducted the band from 1923 to 1943. Some of the top players in the L.A. area play in this band that is now conducted by one of my former college band directors, Larry G. Curtis.

http://www.longbeach.gov/park/facilitie ... l_band.asp

[adam0408]

With all of the high school bands out there playing grade 5 and 6 music (and a few actually playing it well), and all the college bands and wind ensembles putting on regular concerts for free or a nominal cost (not to mention free cost of admission to military band concerts) is there really a market???

Marty "who likes the idea but would not pay for what he could hear free" Neilan

Well.... arent there college and high school orchestras out there that perform nice music that you can hear for free or a nominal cost?

What is the difference? Is there someone that says "we can pay string players to play, but brass players, no thanks?"


But thanks for the info people, its really encouraging to hear that there are programs out there for those of us that just get tired of hearing the screech of a bow. They may have a couple hundred years on me, but I am not gonna let that stop me!!

---What am I saying? I am just a college kid that has no money and no connections.... where am I gonna get this started......
Joel "who likes the idea of getting payed for playing my tuba in a band, but doesnt know how to make this happen" Adams

[TexTuba]

I remember my teacher, Andrew Russell, saying that when the Dallas Wind Symphony was started under Howard Dunn that it was for fun. No money involved. I guess it's changed since then...






Ralph

[MaryAnn]

Mpst of what I see is adult amateur bands that don't pay the members, but some of them charge for concerts. One in particular here in town has an extensive concert schedule but the players don't get paid. It is just as busy a gig as being in a pro group; I won't play in it for free because it uses up way too much time for oompah type parts.
There are three other bands in town of varying quality but all of them are amateur and give free concerts. The concerts are not packed with audience, either. I've always wished someone would start a very high level band that didn't have people who can't play in tune or follow the conductor, but I haven't seen it happen. It always is the case that the worst players are the ones who do all the work....librarian, advertising, etc, and if the group replaced them with better players the group would go under.
It's an interesting dilemma. Maybe we could get better groups if we paid the people who do the support work instead of paying the musicians to start with, and then we could have a group of good enough quality that eventually the monies earned from concerts would pay the musicians.
MA, who realizes this would be locally a controversial subject