This sign in front of a home proclaims the prowess of a band member who lives there. How wonderful to see groups other than athletes being celebrated! I never received this kind of recognition when I was a band member. I played the clarinet in junior high and high school. Plus in high school I played the alto saxophone. I had various band directors through the years. One used to pick up the conductor’s stand and throw it when he got mad. He also broke several conducting batons when his temper flared. Another was gracious enough to give smoke breaks to the students during band practice. Yes, students were smoking in high school. They used to all smoke in a designated area outside the school that the rest of us called the “Cancer Pit.” I do remember one marching band contest where we had to stand in formation at attention just outside a stadium. Swinging on a rope from the top of the stadium was a guy in a clown suit trying to distract us. It was quite intimidating, but I think we passed. When we were serious and all joined together to play a symphony or a march, it was magic to hear the combined harmony of all the instruments. And it was quite thrilling to be in the marching band under the floodlights of a football stadium performing precise turns in time to the music, while forming gigantic images that could be seen from a helicopter. I even took private lessons on the clarinet and competed at contests playing solos. When you have music in your life, it just makes everything better. Let’s find out more about school bands.
According to Wikipedia, a school band is a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together. A concert band is usually under the direction of one or more conductors or band directors. A school band consists of woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments, although upper-level bands may also have string basses or bass guitar.
School bands in the United Kingdom are generally similar to those in the U.S., although pure brass bands are more commonplace in schools than in the U.S. Some countries usually prefer certain special types of bands — usually drums — over conventional ones. The school band movement in Japan is unusually strong, organized around an enormous competition system administered by the All-Japan Band Association. Many international observers of Japanese school bands consider them to be the most impressive in the world, particularly among very young students, and Japan is also home to one of the world's leading professional concert bands, the Tokyo Koesi Wind Orchestra.
Tokyo Koesi Wind Orchestra
Middle school/elementary school bands Although some children learn an instrument prior to entering a middle school or junior high, students in music education programs within the United States and Canada generally start daily band classes in the 6th or 7th grade. Many band programs begin as early as 4th or 5th grade. The students usually make up a band based upon their grade, which may then be broken up into sectionals to provide better instrument-specific instruction. It is sometimes required for beginner students to play a recorder for a year before learning another instrument, so that basics, such as scales, embouchure — the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue and teeth in playing a wind instrument, etc. can be taught easily. Other requirements may include learning a piano or guitar to understand basic music theory, notation, etc. A "beginning" band, consisting of the youngest students in the school, usually gives two or three concerts a year and may participate in a local/state contest. These bands are given easy music to learn, often with many duplicate parts and simple rhythms. Students sometimes may be required to memorize the 12 major scales. Depending upon the size of the school, there may be one to three "higher level" bands after the beginning band. These bands are usually divided similarly to high school bands. Some schools require students to audition and be placed in a band according to their ability on their instruments. Others will assign students based on their performance as seen in class. Yet others will simply sort the students according to their age or grade level. Most of these decisions are decided by the conductor. These higher-level bands will occasionally play in high school games and pep rallies to augment the local high school band, although in small schools they always come to these events. Beginning bands usually are used in the spot of an elective.
Woodwind instruments typically in beginning bands are flutes; oboes; clarinets; alto, tenor and occasionally baritone saxophones; and bassoons. Typical brass instruments are tubas, trombones, trumpets, French horns and occasionally baritones or euphoniums. Some bands will also have a percussion kit, which will allow them to play bells and drums.
Flute The flute is a family of musical instrument in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a flute player, flautist, flutist or, less commonly, fluter or flutenist.
Flutes are the earliest known identifiable musical instruments, as paleolithic examples with hand-bored holes have been found. A number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia too has a long history with the instrument that has continued into the present day. In China, a playable bone flute was discovered that was approximately 9,000 years old. The Americas also had an ancient flute culture, with instruments found in Caral, Peru, dating back 5,000 years and Labrador dating back approximately 7,500 years.
Historians have found the bamboo flute has a long history as well, especially in China and India. Flutes have been discovered in historical records and artworks starting in the Zhou dynasty. The oldest written sources reveal the Chinese were using the kuan (a reed instrument) and hsio (or xiao, an end-blown flute, often of bamboo) in the 12th-11th centuries B.C., followed by the chi or ch'ih in the 9th century B.C. and the yüeh in the 8th century B.C. Of these, the chi is the oldest documented cross flute or transverse flute and was made from bamboo.
The cross flute was "the outstanding wind instrument of ancient India," according to Curt Sachs. He said that religious artwork depicting "celestial music" instruments was linked to music with an "aristocratic character." The Indian bamboo cross flute, Bansuri, was sacred to Krishna, and he is depicted in Hindu art with the instrument. In India, the cross flute appeared in reliefs from the first century A.D. at sanchi and Amaravati from the 2nd-4th centuries A.D.
Although there had been flutes in Europe in prehistoric times, in more recent millenia the flute was absent from the continent until its arrival from Asia, by way of "North Africa, Hungary and Bohemia," according to historian Alexander Buchner. The end-blown flute began to be seen in illustration in the 11th century. Transverse flutes entered Europe through Byzantium and were depicted in Greek art about 800 A.D. The transverse flute had spread into Europe by way of Germany and was known as the German flute.
Oboe The oboe is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A soprano oboe measures roughly 25 1/2 inches long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright." When the word oboe is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglaise or English horn or oboe d’amore. A musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist. Today, the oboe is commonly used as orchestral or solo instrument in symphony orchestras, concrt bands and chamber ensembles. The oboe is especially used in classical music, film music, some genres of folk music and is occasionally heard in jazz, rock, pop and popular music. The oboe is widely recognized as the instrument that tunes the orchestra with its distinctive 'A.'
Clarinet The clarinet is a family of woodwind instruments. It has a single-reed mouthpiece, a straight, cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore and a flared bell. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist. While the similarity in sound between the earliest clarinets and the trumpet may hold a clue to its name, other factors may have been involved. During the late Baroque era, composers such as Bach and Handel were making new demands on the skills of their trumpeters, who were often required to play difficult melodic passages in the high — or as it came to be called — clarion register. Since the trumpets of this time had no valves or pistons, melodic passages would often require the use of the highest part of the trumpet's range, where the harmonics were close enough together to produce scales of adjacent notes as opposed to the gapped scales or arpeggios of the lower register. The trumpet parts that required this specialty were known by the term clarino, and this, in turn, came to apply to the musicians themselves. It is probable that the term clarinet may stem from the diminutive version of the “clarion” or “clarino,” and it has been suggested that clarino players may have helped themselves out by playing particularly difficult passages on these newly developed "mock trumpets."
Johann Christoph Denner is generally believed to have invented the clarinet in Germany around the year 1700 by adding a register key to the earlier chalmeau, usually in the key of C. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability.
In modern times, the most common clarinet is the B♭ clarinet. However, the clarinet in A, pitched a semitone lower, is regularly used in orchestral, chamber and solo music. An orchestral clarinetist must own both a clarinet in A and B♭ since the repertoire is divided fairly evenly between the two.
Since the middle of the 19th century, the bass clarinet — nowadays invariably in B♭ but with extra keys to extend the register down to low written C3 — has become an essential addition to the orchestra. The clarinet family ranges from the extremely rare BBB♭ octo-contrabass to the A♭ piccolo clarinet. The clarinet has proved to be an exceptionally flexible instrument, used in the classical repertoire as in concert bands, military bands, marching bands, klezmer, jazz and other styles.
Saxophone The saxophone — referred to colloquially as the sax — is a family of woodwind instruments usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece. Although most saxophones are made from brass, they are categorized as woodwind instruments because sound is produced by an oscillating reed — traditionally made out of woody cane — rather than lips vibrating in a mouthpiece cup as with the brass instrument family. As with the other woodwind instruments, the pitch of the note being played is controlled by covering holes in the body tube to control the resonant frequency of the air column by changing the effective length of the tube. The player covers or uncovers the holes by pressing keys. The saxophone is used in wide range of musical styles including classical music (such as concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire and and, occasionally, orchestras), military bands, marching bands, jazz (such as big bands and jazz combos) and contemporary music. The saxophone is also used as a solo and melody instrument or as a member of a horn section in some styles of rock and roll and popular music. Saxophone players are called saxophonists.
The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in the early 1840s, and saxophones have since been produced in a variety of models distinguished by transpositions within instrument sets and tuning standard. Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone on July 1, 1846, in two groups of seven instruments each. Each series consisted of instruments ranked by pitch, in alternating transposition. The series pitched in B♭ and E♭ soon became dominant and most saxophones encountered today are from this series. Instruments from the series pitched in C and F never gained a foothold and constituted only a small percentage of instruments made by Sax. High Pitch — also marked "H" or "HP" — saxophones tuned sharper than the concert A = 440 Hz standard were produced into the early 20th century for sonic qualities suited for outdoor uses, but are not playable to modern tuning and are considered obsolete. Low Pitch — also marked "L" or "LP" — saxophones are equivalent in tuning to modern instruments. C soprano and C melody saxophones were produced for the casual market as parlor instruments during the early 20th century. Saxophones in F were introduced during the late 1920s but never gained acceptance. The modern saxophone family consists entirely of instruments in the B♭ – E♭ series, historical and experimental instruments notwithstanding. The saxophones with widest use and availability are the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones.
Bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that plays music written in the bass and tenor clefs and, occasionally, the treble. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, variety of character and agility. The modern bassoon exists in two forms; Buffet or French and Heckel or German systems. One who plays a bassoon of either system is called a bassoonist.
Tuba The tuba is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibration or a buzz into a large mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the newer instruments in the modern orchestra and concert band. The tuba largely replaced the ophicleide. Tuba is Latin for “trumpet.” A person who plays the tuba is called a tubaist or tubist or simply a tuba player. In a British brass band or military band, they are known as bass players.
Trombone The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips or embouchure cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Unlike most other brass instruments — which have valves that, when pressed, alter the pitch of the instrument — trombones instead have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. However, many modern trombone models also have a valve attachment which lowers the pitch of the instrument. Variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves similar to those on the trumpet. The word "trombone" derives from Italian tromba or trumpet and -one — a suffix meaning "large" — so the name means "large trumpet." The trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart, the baritone, in contrast to its conical valved counterparts: the cornet, euphonium and French horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the tenor trombone and bass trombone. The most common variants — the tenor and bass — are treated as non-transposing instruments pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet and an octave above the pedal B♭ tuba. The once common E♭ alto trombone became less widely used as improvements in technique extended the upper range of the tenor, but it is now resurging due to its lighter sonority which is appreciated in many classical and early romantic works. Trombone music is usually written in concert pitch in either bass or tenor clef, although exceptions do occur, notably in British brass-band music where the tenor trombone is presented as a B♭ transposing instrument, written in treble clef; and the alto trombone is written at concert pitch usually in alto clef. A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player.
Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet with the highest register in the brass family to thebass trumpet, which is pitched one octave below the standard B♭ or C trumpet. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly closed lips or embouchure, producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century, trumpets have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape.
There are many distinct types of trumpet, with the most common being pitched in B♭ — a transposing instrument — having a tubing length of about 4 feet 10 inches. Early trumpets did not provide means to change the length of tubing, whereas modern instruments generally have three — or sometimes four — valves in order to change their pitch. There are eight combinations of three valves, making seven different tubing lengths, with the third valve sometimes used as an alternate fingering equivalent to the 1–2 combination. Most trumpets have valves of the piston type, while some have the rotary type. The use of rotary-valved trumpets is more common in orchestral settings — especially in German and German-style orchestras, although this practice varies by country. Each valve, when engaged, increases the length of tubing, lowering the pitch of the instrument. A musician who plays the trumpet is called a trumpet player or trumpeter.
French horn The French horn — since the 1930s known simply as the "horn" in professional music circles — is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B♭ — technically a variety of German horn — is the horn most often used by players in professional orchestras and bands. A musician who plays a horn is known as a horn player or hornist. Pitch is controlled through the combination of the following factors: speed of air through the instrument (controlled by the player's lungs and thoracic diaphragm); diameter and tension of lip aperture (by the player's lip muscles—the embouchure) in the mouthpiece; plus, in a modern horn, the operation of valves by the left hand, which route the air into extra sections of tubing. Most horns have lever-operated rotary valves, but some, especially older horns, use piston valves similar to a trumpet's and the Vienna horn uses double-piston valves or pumpenvalves. The backward-facing orientation of the bell relates to the perceived desirability to create a subdued sound in concert situations, in contrast to the more piercing quality of the trumpet. A horn without valves is known as a natural horn, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument similar to a bugle. Pitch may also be controlled by the position of the hand in the bell, in effect reducing the bell's diameter. The pitch of any note can easily be raised or lowered by adjusting the hand position in the bell. The key of a natural horn can be changed by adding different crooks of different lengths.
Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, which is tuned to F or less commonly B♭. The more common double horn has a fourth, trigger valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or another tuned to B♭ which expands the horn range to over four octaves and blends with flutes or clarinets in a woodwind ensemble. Triple horns with five valves are also made, usually tuned in F, B♭ and a descant E♭ or F. There are also double horns with five valves tuned in B♭, descant E♭ or F and a stopping valve, which greatly simplifies the complicated and difficult hand-stopping technique, though these are rarer. Also common are descant doubles, which typically provide B♭ and alto F branches. A crucial element in playing the horn deals with the mouthpiece. Most of the time, the mouthpiece is placed in the exact center of the lips, but because of differences in the formation of the lips and teeth of different players, some tend to play with the mouthpiece slightly off center. Although the exact side-to-side placement of the mouthpiece varies for most horn players, the up-and-down placement of the mouthpiece is generally two-thirds on the upper lip and one-third on the lower lip. When playing higher notes, the majority of players exert a small degree of additional pressure on the lips using the mouthpiece. However, this is undesirable from the perspective of both endurance and tone: excessive mouthpiece pressure makes the horn sound forced and harsh and decreases player's stamina due to the resulting constricted flow of blood to the lips and lip muscles.
Baritone horn The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family. It is a piston-valve brass instrument with a bore that is mostly conical — like the higher-pitched flugelhorn and alto or tenor horn — but it has a narrower bore than the similarly pitched euphonium. It uses a wide-rimmed cup mouthpiece like that of its peers, the trombone and euphonium. Like the trombone and the euphonium, the baritone horn can be considered either a transposing or non-transposing instrument. In the UK, the baritone horn is part of the standardized instrumentation of brass bands. In concert band music, there is often a part marked baritone, but these parts are most commonly intended for — and played on — the euphonium. A baritone can also play music written for a trombone due to similar pitches. A person who plays a baritone horn is a baritone horn player in the UK or baritonist in the U.S.
High school bands High school bands typically challenge students musically more than those in middle school. Music is much more difficult with more complex passages, intricate rhythms and more involved phrasing. Selections also vary in style. A well-rounded band is expected to be able to play a wide variety of music, ranging from serious “program music” to lighter “pop-style” music. For many high school students, school bands are the main form of music education available to them in school. Marches were the first major contributions to the wind band repertoire. There are many pieces other than marches written for wind band at present, but there are some historical standards that should be included into the repertoire of advanced ensembles. Some of the most notable of these pieces are Holst's “First Suite in E-flat” and “Second Suite in F” and Grainger’s “Children’s March" and “Lincolnshire Posy,” among others.
The first high school band in the United States was the Boston Farm and Trade School Band, founded in 1856. The oldest high school band in America is the Christian Brothers Band in Memphis founded in 1882.
Marching bands Many schools, especially high schools in the United States, have a marching band. A school marching band may contain from 11 to over 500 students. Marching bands often practice frequently during the late summer and early fall and most often attend their school's football games, playing music in the stands and marching in a show during halftime. A show is usually between 6 and 10 minutes long, but many competitions place restrictions on length. Bands often compete in marching band competitions throughout the marching season, typically the same time as football season. Competitions vary in intensity. Some areas have many smaller, local competitions hosted by individual schools. Others host a regional competition. Others, such as Bands of America competitions are nationally known and take place in professional arenas. In addition to their show, marching bands frequently march in parades. Often this is limited to their cities’ or towns’ municipal parades, but some bands travel to participate in well-known parades, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade orthe Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.
Band geek "Band geek" or "band nerd" is a high school stereotype of a person obsessed with playing band music. However, the term usually relates to the belief that most people who are in school bands are socially inept. The term is sometimes used to describe any student who plays an instrument and is in a band class, including students in the orchestra. "Orch dork" is a variation specifically for members of school orchestras. These terms have become a label of pride for many band members, being found on T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. Gender stereotypes in instrument selection In school bands, more females than males tend to play most woodwind instruments, especially flute, and more males than females tend to play brass instruments, saxophone and percussion. However, this is not always the case. These stereotypes can be avoided when band directors assess each student for musical capacity, as well as meet with students individually to analyze their physical characteristics. For example, petite students would be more successful playing the clarinet over the tuba. Additionally, the role of gender bias in musical instrument assignment is highly debated in the field of music education. Some feel that it should be left alone while others want to combat it. One way band directors can overcome these stereotypes is to have live demonstrations from musicians playing gender atypical instruments i.e., males playing flute, females playing tuba.
Movies Popular films with school bands in their storylines:
“Strike Up the Band” 1940
“The Music Man” 1962
“Mr. Holland’s Opus” 1995
“Drumline” 2002
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