British Brass Bands are concerned with reaching out to young people to bolster their ranks, and yet some more forward-thinking youth have been put off. Why is this?
A Brass Band should, in many people’s opinions, stand for playing musical pieces without any extra baggage. Former bandsman Timothy Swallow says, "Bandsman, even the title’s sexist. I wanted to play music myself, and I can, without reservation, say that’s what I joined up for. But the British – nay, the World – Brass Band Association is perhaps the most outdated institution I have ever come across." Swallow, former percussionist for a Midlands Brass Band, has been involved with the co-operative youth movement The Woodcraft Folk for much longer. "I'd always put Woodcraft first," he insists, "but I did miss the music when I wasn't at band."
I bring myself to wonder why Brass Bands are so concerned with being militaristic. “I was in the Marines all my life,” comments bandsman and arranger Keith Lever, who insists upon being called ‘Colonel’. “I’ve no idea how a real job works. The only thing I could do was shoot a gun and play the cornet.”
Rank and File
At modern youth organisations like The Woodcraft Folk, there are leaders, but these groups often stand for equalisation, with older members often being semi-autonomous but continuously giving power to young people. Brass Bands are almost the opposite. Some people have the final say, and they feel they must be obeyed. “I was the boss,” acknowledges Lever, harkening back to his days at the Royal Marines School of Music before joining the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, followed by playing percussion for the Bestwood Black Diamonds. “It’s called the CEO, but people called me colonel. It’s not an easy job.”
Fair enough, it may not be an easy job, but it’s the first time I’ve heard a musician being given a military rank before. Young people have a tendency towards peaceful activism, especially in their student days, but it is somewhat difficult to do so in a band when every band is effectively under the command of a "Band Sergeant".
"The look on the faces of the rest of the band when I asked if I could wear a white poppy for the Remembrance Day services was, in most cases, something of a mixture between disbelief and utter horror," admits Swallow.
Too patriotic?
Brass Remembrance Day services are characterised by white middle-class audiences, often developing a penchant for waving Union Jack flags, "each one of them slowly transforming into an embryonic Enoch Powell ready to sprout," as Swallow says. "And there I am, always taking part." In church services, everyone prays to the Christian God (without any apparent choice), asking for a blessing for the brave soldiers of the glorious United Kingdom. Prayers for peace and an end to conflict appear not to be considered.
It’s also rather difficult to remain vegetarian while in a Brass Band. Granted, it’s not a difficult thing to do, but in a group of thirty individuals you may assume that more than one is going to be a vegetarian. Apparently not. According to former bandwoman Louise Sarah Stonehouse, "as if the expected ridicule wasn’t enough, being told – by the conductor – in no uncertain terms that I can’t keep a proper rhythm going because I don’t intake enough meat is just not acceptable. But always offering me meat to eat is worse. Much worse."
Forward-thinking
Granted, not all Brass Band concerts are as faux-intellectually patriotic as the given stereotype, but it most certainly is not the sort of image that the bands should be projecting to young people. Something as commonplace as going to school promotes inclusion, regardless of any defining factors, and that diversity is a positive virtue. However, if strictly white bands are going to start every gig with God Save The Queen, and end with The Last Post, then it's difficult to see how forward-thinking they could be seen as.
Music is a very important medium in any culture, and Brass Bands are part of a long-standing British tradition, producing a good sound and characterised in popular culture well, such as in films like Brassed Off. But unfortunately they do exist in a world where pacifism is looked upon as taboo by the military-style leaders of the bands in existence, and vegetarians are seen as radical outcasts.
It’s not a world for everyone, and that is a shame, because, in the modern world, a policy of inclusion would really help the banding world to get the youth interest it is desperately hankering after.
Benjamin Maydon - Benjamin "Pooka" Maydon
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