Brass Band Logo

NJH Music Logo

Some of the contents of the pages on this site are Copyright © 2016 NJH Music
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Danville, Kentucky Festival (fwd)

Erik,

You requested information about the Great American Brass Band Festival
held in Danville, Kentucky.  I have attended it twice, once as a
spectator and once as a performer, and I can speak very highly of
both experiences.

First, you should understand that this is not a festival comprised
entirely of brass bands in the sense that we mean as members of this
list (British Brass Band instrumentation).  They bring in many groups
of different instrumentation: brass quintets, small brass groups,
American Historical bands, New Orleans Jazz bands and even a band
or two that uses woodwinds.  However, brass is the predominant theme
and there are always two or three British Brass Bands performing
there, usually one professional group, one group selected by
NABBA (North American Brass Band Association) and one Salvation Army
Brass Band.

In 1994 (my spectator year), the NABBA band was Sheldon Theatre Brass
Band from Red Wing, Minnesota, the Salvation Army Band was The Chicago
Staff Band and the professional group was The U.S. Army Brass Band
(a subset group of the top U.S. Army Ceremonial Band, based in Ft. Myer,
Virgina).  This year, the professional group was The River City Brass
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), the Salvation Army Band was the London
Citadel Band (London, Ontario) and the NABBA-selected group was the
band I play in, the Triangle Brass Band of North Carolina.  

The Festival is very much a spectator event.  It is held on a beautiful
college campus in a charming small town.  In addition to the on-going
concerts (three different stages running concurrently on Saturday),
there is a parade, balloon races, clowns and many family attractions.
The reports you have heard are accurate -- thousands of people attend
this festival and most of them are great listeners.  They bring their
lawn chairs and sit for hours soaking in the concerts.  It is not like
a professional musicians conference, though -- there are no instrument
displays, clinics, master classes or anything like that.  There is a
large sales tent where the groups that are performing can sell their
CDs, T-shirts and so forth.  The whole thing is free -- no admission
charge for any part of it.

The music played at the Festival is generally upbeat and entertaining
(no test pieces) and the Festival coordinators try their best to
eliminate duplication of material between groups.  Even though some
musical purists may think that the choice of music should be unrestricted,
the groups playing the music are so good and do such a good job showing
their enjoyment of the occasion, that none of it sounds "trivial"
even though it may not be the sort of pieces one would play under more
serious settings (all concerts are outdoors).  The group I play with
enjoyed their experience at the Festival greatly -- so many good
bands, so much good music and so many appreciative people all soaking
it up together made for a wonderful weekend.

It may be a bit far for you to come, but if you're planning a trip
to North America during that time frame (the third weekend of June
each year), I strongly recommend you drop in to experience it!

Connie Varner
Triangle Brass Band, USA


--
unsubscribe or receive the list in digest form, mail a message of 'help' to
listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Services] [Contact Us] [Advertise with us] [About] [Tell a friend about us] [Copyright © 2016 NJH Music]