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| John Philip Sousa conducted the Marine Band (1880–1892) and the Sousa Band (1892–1931). |
The Concord Band, probably more than ever before, continues to present the very best in concert band music to the public in our area at reasonable cost. Why more than before? We now tackle great pieces of music for symphonic wind ensemble that would have been considered beyond our capability just a few years ago. For example, Aerial Fantasy, by Michael A. Mogensen, presented on our Winter, 2014, Concert program, was commissioned by the Washington, DC-based Air Force Band. Since its members are all professional musicians, they, according to Mogensen, “could play anything” he wrote—and he admits that this is a difficult piece to play.
One significant area where the Concord Band has not achieved its objective is in building our audience. And we are not alone among concert bands in this respect. Probably the best symphonic wind ensemble in New England, now that the Air Force Band of Liberty no longer exists, is the Metropolitan Wind Symphony—like the Concord Band, a community band with no paid members. However, many of its members were either trained as music performers or as music teachers. They are a wonderful group, but they have as much trouble building an audience as does the Concord Band.
Just as there is an audience for what community orchestras deliver at their formal concerts, one would like to believe that there is an audience for what serious community symphonic wind ensembles deliver at ours. Why do better community bands have a hard time building their audiences? We suggest that there are four principal reasons.
First, there are very few professional wind ensembles in the United States. Aside from military bands, the number of which has been in decline in recent years, there are essentially none. On the other hand, cities of almost any size have had their own professional orchestras for many decades. Such orchestras educate the public about composers and their music and create demand for community orchestra concerts.
Second, as suggested by Roger Cichy,
who writes prolifically
for both band
and orchestra, the latter
is more interesting
to watch. Except for
our trombonists, percussionists,
one string
bass player and an
occasional harpist, all of our musicians
play their instruments only with the mouth
and fingers, not providing much of visual
interest to the audience. At the same time,
the orchestra provides a greater variety of
sound types than does the concert band.
Third, the instrumentation of the orchestra,
as it is constituted today, has been fundamentally
unchanged for the past 300
years, or so. This also means that its repertoire
has been that long in development.
On the other hand, the age of the concert
band and its repertoire is less than 150
years. Like orchestras, concert bands present
symphonies, tone poems, marches,
suites, concerti, concerti grossi, as well as
vocal and choral works.
While the public has a strong sense of
their favorite orchestral composers and
works, they know almost nothing about the
composers of music for symphonic wind
ensemble or their compositions. For example,
how many people know that the Mogensen
piece mentioned earlier was nominated
for a Pulitzer prize in 2007? Roger
Cichy, an outstanding composer who has
written 74 pieces for band, including an
excellent commission to honor the Concord
Band’s 50th anniversary, is virtually unknown
outside of musical circles.
Finally, we feel that the concert band suffers
from its image. How does the public
view the concert band? Most recognize that a
concert band does not march. The Concord
Band gives three kinds of concerts: formal
concerts, pops concerts and outdoor concerts
during the summer. Attendance is greatest at
our summer concerts, less at our pops concerts
and least at our formal concerts—where
we play the best music available for concert
band. At our pops and summer concerts we
play a mix of marches, seasonal music, show
music and novelties. Here’s a photo of part
of a typical Concord Band summer concert
audience at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard,
MA. When the weather is just right, our
Fruitlands audience can reach 1,000 or more.
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| Concord Band audience at Fruitlands Museum Summer Concert Series |
For many, to whom the “concert” in concert band is of little importance, what they are expecting from a band is very likely what occurs outdoors on a warm summer evening when the Concord Band is in concert at Fruitlands Museum. When reading or hearing the name, “John Philip Sousa” (1854–1932), most people immediately think of bands, parades, and/or marches. He became popularly known as “The March King” for his having written 136 marches for band, mostly of the American military and patriotic variety. By contrast, Joseph Haydn, one of the most prolific composers of works for orchestra still played today, wrote 106 symphonies for that ensemble.
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| Daniel S Diamond |
