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Re: Enjoying Contests (long)

On Fri, 8 May 1998, David Read wrote:

> Cameron correct me if I'm wrong (you are obviously more qualified to
> talk about this than I), but it appears your revision of evolution is
> lacking of the main mechanisms. These are variations within the species
> and random mutations which either survive or die based on criteria. For
> a bird the criteria is living healthily to reproduce. For bands the
> criteria seem to be producing the 'stuff' on the contest stage...
    <snip>
> So we have a quasi-musical environment leading to bands all with common
> expression. That's not what I want to hear.

O.K., so the analogy was a bit strained :-) but I think we are trying to 
discuss it at two different levels. You are talking about the survival of 
individual bands on the contest platform. At that level, your criticisms 
of my last message are entirely justified.

However, I was referring to 
the whole brass band movement when I was talking about it being 
evolutionarily stable. What the bands actually do on the contest platform 
is irrelevant to some extent. Taking the analogy of eyes a 
step further, it doesn't matter what colour your eyes are as long as they 
enable you to see. Similarly, the "colour" of a band's performance on 
stage is irrelevant to whether or not contests or the movement in general 
will survive. As long as more people like contests than don't, and as 
long as more people like 
what they hear at contests than don't, then contesting will survive. If 
the balance of opinion changed to the extent that more people would 
prefer not to contest, or to adopt a different format for contests, then 
contesting would change (analogous to the adaptation to a changing 
environment that you mention).

Considering the issue of instrumentation, the different "varieties" upon 
which natural selection must act are the different fanfares, brass 
consorts and miscellaneous groups of brass instruments (including brass 
bands with French Horns etc.) that are around at the moment (and those 
that were around in 
the past). The "fittest" varieties are the ones that survive. As Alastair 
pointed out, the varieties of band that included French Horns (or other 
peculiarities) were found wanting compared to what is now considered to be 
the standard brass band. Since no new brass instrument has been invented 
recently (with the exception of silly things like flumpets), there is no 
alternative variety to challenge the evolutionary supremacy of the 
traditional brass band. (The invention of a new instrument, or the trial 
of a new instrumentation would be analogous to a random mutation, even 
though it wouldn't arise by a strictly "random" process - but then, 
religious people may prefer to think of random mutations as being 
"invented" by some higher entity).

It is difficult to make specific reference to all areas of brass banding 
in an evolutionary idiom, and I am sure you will have something to say 
about some of the points above, but I think my original point is a sound 
one...that brass bands exist (as do contests, uniforms and all the other 
associated paraphenalia) because they work. If they didn't, people would 
soon find an alternative avenue to vent their musical or social energies.

Regards,

Cameron

-- 
  Cameron Mabon (International Idiot)	   cmabon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Piano, cornet and duck-call
  Fundamental Brass	       http://users.ox.ac.uk/~newc0349/fun
  City of Oxford Band     http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/~cmabon/COSB.html


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