In 19th century America, the community band was at the center of community life. Here's a documentary about them:
Meet The Band, a Hindsight Media production, is a one-hour documentary tracing the history of community bands n the United States. We profile four very different bands from around the country and takes us through the American Revolution, the Civil War and the 20th century.
There was a similar tradition in Europe, referenced by Rimbaud as I remember. In the Midwest HS bands retained some of this function into the 60s.
ReplyDeleteYes, about Europe. That tradition has become set in amber, as it were, in Britain in the British brass banks (Black Dyke, etc.), where it's become refined and professional- and semi-professionalized. Judging from YouTube it persists in Eastern Europe in a more organic, more folkish, less nostalgic, form.
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