Book Description

This book is a social history of the creation of the brass band movement in the Colony of New South Wales during the nineteenth century. By the end of that century, the brass band had become one of the most prominent musical ensembles in Australian public. They were characterised by quasi-military uniforms, a competitive and highly-regulated organisational structure, and a form of amateur musical tribalism absent from other forms of participatory music-making.Brass bands were present in almost every country town and suburb while others were attached to the colony's fledgling military forces. They were highly prized by their local communities which they provided with the latest in popular dance music and often their first taste of art music, especially opera. The presence of a brass band was considered essential to any civic event and no procession was complete without one or more bands.As a social study of early New South Wales band history, the book examines the myriad of influences that had led to the formation of a cohesive and competitive amateur brass band movement by at the turn of the twentieth century.