Concert band

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Wind band)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
A full concert band—Indiana Wind Symphony in concert, 2014





Development of the wind ensemble[edit]


Bands today[edit]

Military bands[edit]


Military bands were originally used to control troops on the battlefield, using instruments such as drums, bugles, and fifes among others. As communication systems during war became more advanced, the use of instruments on the battlefield as signalling devices fell out of use. From then on, military bands would fulfill a ceremonial role, entertaining troops and playing for the community. As its role shifted so too did its instrumentation. A wider range of instruments was employed to play transcriptions of orchestral works, the bulk of the early wind band repertoire.[3] These military bands evolved into the modern drum and bugle corps and helped to spread the idea of a concert band. A modern military will often have multiple types of bands (e.g. the United States Marine Corps has both a drum and bugle corps and wind ensemble).

A military band—The United States Army Band

Professional bands[edit]

Professional concert bands not associated with the military appear across the globe, particularly in developed countries. However, most do not offer full-time positions. The competition to make it into one of these concert bands is incredibly high and the ratio of performers to entrants is narrowly small.[citation needed] Examples of professional non-military concert bands include:

Community bands[edit]


The rise of the community band can partially be attributed to industrialization. As the instruments became easier to manufacture, their availability greatly increased.[4] This meant that many amateurs could now form a town band, their arrangements typically consisting of patriotic tunes, marches, and popular music. The American Civil War marked a turning point in the American community band where many military musicians, either stemming from amateur or professional backgrounds, sought to create their own community band after the war's conclusion.[5] The large number of bands created during this era led to a "Golden Age of Bands", spearheaded by conductors such as John Philip Sousa and Patrick Gilmore.[6][7] The new forms of twentieth-century entertainment, namely the radio and phonograph, led to decline in community bands. This led to instrument manufacturers, who previously had marketed to the community bands, to focus on schools.[8] The expansion of school music programs would eventually help restore interest in the community band as graduates sought to play in a band together again.

Notable community bands include:


United Kingdom






School bands[edit]


In many traditional U.S. high schools, there are multiple band levels, distinguished by skill level or other factors. In such schools, an audition may be required to advance to further band levels, while the common level would be open to anyone. For example, in many U.S. high schools, "Concert Band" refers to the introductory level band, "Symphonic Band" is the title for the intermediate level band, and "Wind Ensemble" is the title for the advanced level band.[10]







Instrumentation has developed throughout time to become more efficient for the conditions that marching bands need to play in. For example, the clarinet was a better version of the oboe and became more widely used in the 18th century. Less heavy and bulky instruments were replaced by trombones and cornets. In the 19th century, band instruments became highly developed as they started to add keys and valves that made certain ranges and notes on instruments easier to navigate and perform, which was a huge game changer for all musicians.[11]

  1. ^ If called for, sometimes doubled by flute 2 or 3.
  2. ^ If called for, sometimes doubled by oboe 2.
  3. ^ If called for, sometimes doubled by bassoon 2.
  4. ^ Clarinets in A were sometimes used in professional concert bands.
  5. ^ The contrabass clarinet part is usually provided in both B♭ and E♭ (contra-alto).
  8. ^ Trumpet and cornet parts have often been considered interchangeable and are sometimes separated into 3 or 4 cornet parts and two trumpet parts; however, this practice is no longer used and is usually only seen in older (e.g. pre-1950) works and transcriptions. Trumpets are almost always in B though Trumpets in E, D, and C were used commonly in the heyday of professional concert bands.
  9. ^ In older works, there was often a middle brass part that could be played on either alto (tenor) horn in E♭, French horn in F, or mellophone in F or E♭. There were usually copies of the parts in both F and E♭, for players to read off of based on the key of their instrument. Some modern publishers still include E♭ horn parts, which are the same as the F horn parts, except transposed to E♭. Alto (tenor) horns are especially common in Britain.
  11. ^ If called for, sometimes doubled by trombone 1.
  16. ^ String bass parts are typically included in more advanced band pieces and larger ensemble instrumentation. The String Bass part is sometimes replaced with an electric bass guitar part in certain contemporary band pieces. Some high school and most college and professional bands will have a string bass/electric bass player in the ensemble.
A high school concert band—BHS Band in performance, 2013


Development of a repertoire[edit]


Prominent composers for concert band[edit]

Early to middle 20th century[edit]


Late 20th century to the present[edit]

Over the last fifty years, many composers have written major new works for wind ensemble. Some of these composers have risen to the forefront as being particularly important in the concert band's development. Others have risen to prominence independently and came to compose music for concert band. These include

Important concert band literature[edit]



Wind-band research[edit]

During the early 21st century, research on wind band-related topics greatly increased due to the expanded publication activities of organizations that promote band research: Germany-based IGEB (founded 1974),[13] the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE, founded 1983),[14] and US-based organizations Historic Brass Society (founded 1988),[15] National Band Association (NBA, founded 1960),[16] and College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA, founded 1941).[17] Publications from these organizations expanded on the corpus of research that had been developing since 1964 through the Journal of Band Research,[18] affiliated with the American Bandmasters Association. Internationally notable wind-band researchers include Vincent Dubois on French bands,[19] Paul Niemisto on Finnish bands,[20] Frederick Harris on wind-band conductors,[21] Jill M. Sullivan on US women's bands,[22] Frank Battisti on US bands,[23] David Hebert on Japanese and Polynesian bands,[24] Patrick M. Jones on US military bands,[25] and David Whitwell on European bands and repertoire,[26] among others.

Band associations[edit]

Some notable band associations include:

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Wakin, Daniel J. (9 December 2004). "Frederick Fennell, 90, Innovative Band Conductor, Dies". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  3. ^ "History of Bands in World War 1 Part 1". Taps Bugler: Jari Villanueva. 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  4. ^ Rohwer, Debbie (2016). "Research on Community Bands: Past, Present, and Future". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Hartz, Jason (2003). "The American Community Band: History and Development".
  6. ^ "State College, PA - Band concert to feature the 'Golden Age of Bands' -". Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  7. ^ "A History of the Wind Band: The Nineteenth-Century American Wind Band". Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  8. ^ Guion, David (2019-09-02). "School bands in the United States". Musicology for Everyone. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  9. ^ Newton, Bret (2016). Band Orchestration. ISBN 978-1-5376-1984-2. OCLC 1035017338.
  10. ^ [1][dead link]
  11. ^ Schmidt-Jones, Catherine (2007). A Parent's Guide to Band. Catherine Schmidt-Jones.
  12. ^ name=trumpet2 group=note>If called for, sometimes doubled by trumpet 1.
  13. ^ Initiatives expanded in recent decades include a research award, digital books, biography series, and monograph series. IGEB: International Society for Research and Promotion of Wind Music
  14. ^ WASBE Journal became peer-reviewed from 2006. WASBE Journal
  15. ^ [2][dead link]
  16. ^ "NBA Journal". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  17. ^ CBDNA Journal established in 2010. CBDNA Journal
  18. ^ "JBR Home". The Journal of Band Research. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Sociology of Wind Bands. - Vincent Dubois". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  20. ^ "bio | Paul Niemisto". Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  21. ^ [3][dead link]
  22. ^ [4][dead link]
  23. ^ [5][dead link]
  24. ^ Hebert, David G. (22 April 2012). "Wind Bands and Cultural Identity in Japanese Schools". Springer Netherlands. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  25. ^ "Patrick M. Jones, Ph.D." Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  26. ^ [6][dead link]

External links[edit]