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Promoting brass bands

Clair Tomalin has commented in divers postings about how to attract the
'unconverted' audience to brass bands, amongst many other things.  My
apologies to non-UK listers about the UK-oriented nature of the following
comments, but hope that they are intelligible to all.

The brass band fraternity is a notoriously introverted community, spending
far too much of its time navel-gazing (and if you don't believe that, just
browse through the archive of this mailing list for starters!), with the
result that its popularity with the masses has declined greatly over the
decades.

Every weekend the listings in the back pages of the quality daily newspapers
in the UK  carry advertisements for 'Classical Spectaculars' and the like -
undemanding concerts of popular classics at major venues, played by scratch
orchestras and directed by conductors from 'Division 2', which include
things like the Old Spice aftershave music, the bit from the British Airways
advert, and usually finish up with the 1812 Overture with  'cannon & mortar
effect' (viz. a couple of thunderflashes in a dustbin).  You know the sort
of thing. And everyone goes home happy.  And the names which appear
prominently in these ads are those such as  Raymond Gubbay, Victor
Hochhauser etc as promoters.

The point is, these type of concerts play to virtually full houses - every
week!  Promoters like Gubbay and Hochhauser (actually, I think that the
latter is dead now) know how to SELL THE PRODUCT, and it is this type of
entrepreneur who is conspicuous by their absence in current day banding.  It
wasn't always the case.  Listers with a knowledge of brass band history will
be able to supply the names of the great brass band promoters of yesteryear,
and those of course were the days when bands played to the non-banding
general public at large.   But  we don't have anyone like that now - and
consequently we don't play to the non-banding general public any more.

So there we are.  Find a promoter (who knows, perhap even Gubbay himself?),
convince him that brass bands could make him a tidy sum, and let him get on
with it.  That's my suggestion for popularising brass bands.  Adopting such
a popularist policy need not impinge on other activities, such as the more
important pursuit of serious music, or even on contests (pointless though
the latter are).  After all, the LSO survived 'Andre Previn's Music Night'
in the 1970s and the RPO (or was it the LPO?) survived 'Hooked On Classics'
more recently.

Just a few thoughts.

Cheers

Alec

________________________
Alec Gallagher
alec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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