Editorial ~ 2007: February

This month we give our views on Milton Friedman and instrument manufacturers; In praise of the 2007 Festival of Brass and the tricky question of other people's tunes...

Milton Friedman and instrument manufacturers

It was the great guru of market force economics, Milton Friedman who suggested that there was nothing wrong with healthy competition. It was he said, both good for the competitors and good for the consumer too.

The old American number cruncher would have had a field day then when he looked at the current brass band instrument market place, especially with the tasty fight for supremacy that is likely to take place between leading premium instrument brands in 2007.

There is competition everywhere in fact – from top to bottom and all layers in between, and whilst on the face of it that may mean good news for any potential customer with money to burn in their pockets, in the long term it could well lead to problems for all concerned too.  That's the problem with market forces – they are short term in nature and outcome – long term planning tends to be based on survival of the fittest.

In the mean time a fierce (and perhaps sometimes quite pointed) fight for market share will occur. There have been plenty of accusations flying around, and quite a lot hot air from all the manufacturers that their products are better than the rest, but it is worth pointing out that when it comes to producing brass band instruments there has been no revolutionary step forward in their design for well over 100 years now.

What are now being sold are instruments that are variations on a common theme. The production techniques and the quality may have improved, whilst the instruments themselves may have got bigger and more aesthetically pleasing to look, but the basics remain the same.

What now sells is the evolution of quality and value for money – not snake oil claims of revolution in sound and looks. And it is that which will decide which of all the players currently cramming into the crowded market place will survive.

Bear it in mind when you or your band is next looking to fork out a couple of grand. You need to buy an instrument that has a shelf of years and not months and one that has been built to last longer than the average life span of a Japanese microwave. Perhaps Milton Friedman should have played in a brass band.

What do you think?
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In praise of the RNCM Festival of Brass

The RNCM Festival of Brass continues to provide the brass band movement with a showcase to display the very best of its talents to the world.

This year was no exception, with fantastic music performed by fantastic bands on the very top of their form. Even the moguls at the BBC have been reported to be delighted at what they heard.

That must have given the estimable Paul Hindmarsh the opportunity to allow himself a wry smile of satisfaction and delight. The Artistic Director has worked tirelessly in promoting this event over the years whilst also ensuring that the music played genuinely broadens horizons both for the performers and listeners alike. This year there have been a number of real gems.

As a former BBC employee he was a times a lone voice of hope for the movement in a corporation that had begun to lose sight of it Reithian principles, but since he has broken free of their shackles he has been renewed with an artistic vigour that at Manchester was a joy to behold.

Helped enormously by the RNCM itself, as well as from the organizational expertise of Philip Biggs there was a sense of purpose and direction about this year's event that bodes so well for the future – from the brilliant appearance of Eikanger Bjorsvik to the promotion of new talent in the form of masterclasses and young composer's premieres. 

Everyone involved in the event deserves the plaudits and the 2008 Festival cannot come around quickly enough.

What do you think?
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Other people's tunes

Brass band composers have always copied other people's tunes.

First they simply made no pretence to plagiarism and ‘arranged' the great works for band to be played at the major contests. Lt Charles Godfrey was so good at it that his handiwork provided the British Open with over 40 years worth of championship contest music.

Pastiche has also been used to great effect too – with Eric Ball's superbly crafted ‘Festival Music' perhaps the best example of how to write in the style of someone who knew how to write a good tune himself – Mozart on this occasion.

With the advent of more contemporary works that seemed to have changed, although there were still occasions when what appeared to be originality was in fact a variation on someone's initial original idea. Elgar Howarth's affectionate ‘Fireworks' is a slightly distorted mirror image of Britten's ‘Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'.

The strange thing though is that the most memorable test pieces of recent years have tended to either been inspired by or contained more than a nod or a wink to someone else's material. Wilby and Ellerby most notably perhaps, but also little gems from the likes of Pete Meechan or Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen amongst others.

This has provided the brass band movement with some pretty wonderful works, but also an easy, and possibly lazy path for musical inspiration – the composer's births and deaths page.

2007 is the 150th anniversary of Edward Elgar's birth and so we will see at least one new major work in celebration, but there are also at least another 28 composers who celebrate something of an anniversary this year too – from the 50th anniversary of the death of Jean Sibelius and 100th anniversary of Glinka kicking the bucket, to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Wesley.

Meanwhile in the next couple of years we have notable anniversaries of the births of Puccini, Mendelssohn and Purcell and the deaths of Vaughan Williams, Haydn and Rimsky – Korsakov.

Anyone taking bets that someone somewhere may take the opportunity to give the brass band movement something to remember them by too?

What do you think?
Send an email to: comments@4barsrest.com

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