The Harmony-Band
The Harmony-Band
A brass band harmony, called for simplification band is a group of musicians, often ambulatory and a bit eclectic, composed mainly of brass, but also some woods, including saxophones these formations are intermediate between the orchestra ofharmony and orchestral fanfare. Their instrumental diversity is often due to the difficulty in a given sector, to find all the musicians needed to achieve a more structured band. In addition there may order instruments (trumpets, horns, drums ...), see battery-band or marching band.
Historical
In the XIXth and XXth century, the origin of the multiplicity of harmonies-bands in France is of course music orchestras military conscripts already trained in local orchestras, the music practiced daily for first 5 years, 3 years from 1905, then 1 year back in their villages, they found their seats and often initiated him the youngest. Until 1911, the French army has increased its wind orchestras and counted 177 military band (at around 15,000 men). In 1921, the numbers are limited to 57 per battalion musicians (they often exceeded a hundred) and in 1986 there were still 74 courses. The professional armed forces of 1996 will leave a dozen orchestras with musicians permanent. The National Service no longer feeds the harmonies civilian brass bands inevitably disappear.
Repertoire
Today the repertoire harmonies-bands is still composed largely of military music (ringtones, marches, national anthems ...), but it also includes popular tunes, adaptations of works in all styles (rock, tango, waltz , songs ...) and also works specially created for this type of training. They participate in local events, parties, dances, fireworks, concerts and sporting events. This type of instrumental ensemble specializes in frequent outdoor events. One harmonies most famous brass bands, composed of hundreds of running, was that led the American John Philip Sousa at the beginning of XXth century.
(Source: wikipedia.org - copyright authors - article under GFDL)
