Besses o' th' Barn Band is an English brass band that has been in existence in the Besses o' th' Barn area of Whitefield, Greater Manchester since at least 1818. A junior section, Besses Boys' Band, was established in 1943.
Besses o' th' Barn Band is an English brass band that has been in existence in the Besses o' th' Barn area of Whitefield, Greater Manchester since at least 1818. A junior section, Besses Boys' Band, was established in 1943.
Besses o' th' Barn Band was in existence by 1818 and probably originally called Clegg's Reed Band, after a local cotton manufacturer and keyed bugle player, John Clegg. It may have been called Stand Band for a period soon after that. Stand is an area of Whitefield close to Besses o' th' Barn. [1]
The instruments used by the band in its early years were more varied than later became the case. Describing the Besses assemblage of 1818 as "extraordinarily haphazard", J. H. Elliot lists among its instruments the bass horn, clarinet, drums, French horn, keyed bugle, piccolo, trombone, and trumpet. [2] In 1853, Besses became an all-brass band. [3]
A census of 1896 indicated that there were 40,000 brass bands in the United Kingdom, [4] and Trevor Herbert describes Besses as "The most remarkably forward-looking and entrepreneurial band of the nineteenth century". [1] In the 1880s, [3] the band bought a building at Moss Lane, Whitefield, from which to operate. Having enjoyed considerable success by 1887, it was decided to establish the band as a limited company called the Besses o' th' Barn Old Band Union Limited. [1]
The costs associated with operating a brass band in the 19th century included providing and maintaining instruments, uniforms and rehearsal facilities, as well as purchasing sheet music and paying conductors for their services. While a few bands were able to obtain patronage from wealthy sponsors, most relied on membership subscriptions, public appeals and concerts for their income. The latter was particularly significant but noteworthy institutions such as Besses and the Black Dyke Band earned large sums from participating in contests. [5] Although there had been a few contests before 1850, they came to the fore after that time and owe much to the enterprise of Enderby Jackson, a man who promoted contests and liaised with railway companies to provide excursion arrangements for the contestants and spectators. Entrants to contests were expected not to be professional musicians, but participants for bands such as Besses supplemented their income with payments received for playing. [6]
The two major contests were the British Open and the National Championships, but there were many other more local events.[ citation needed ] By the 1870s, the roster of instruments permitted for use in contests had been codified and the number of members in a competing band was generally set at 24. [2] [7]
Public interest in contests was in decline from the 1950s but Besses was among the bands that had diversified into recording its output. Sales of recordings continued to be significant for another decade. [8] Among the band's earliest recordings was Edward German's Henry VIII Morris Dance in May 1904. Although instrumentation remains the same today as it was then, Arnold Myers notes that the instruments have "evolved" in the interim and that, "In general, the modern band is louder and thicker, the late Victorian band brighter, lighter, and crisper". The quality of the earliest recordings tends to obscure this. [7]
A list of known Besses recordings since 1904 is as follows:[ citation needed ]
4. Brass Band Recordings.com a. Disk 3 – 1 x track Willie Wood b. Disk 18 – 2 x tracks Willie Wood c. Disk 133 – 2 x tracks Ifor James d. Disk 177 – 8 tracks Roy Newsome e. Disk 196 – Besses Boys x 7 Barrie Chappel f. Disk 197 – 9 tracks Roy Newsome g. Disk 254 – 7 tracks Frank Bryce h. Disk 258 – 9 tracks Roy Newsome
The band made two "world tours" in the early 1900s, one between 1906 and 1908 [9] and the other also lasting for more than a year. With Alexander Owen as its conductor, the band visited Australia, Canada, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, South Africa and the US. A tour of Canada between August and October 1932 saw them play 112 concerts. [10]
Besses Boys' Band was formed in October 1943, having been preceded from 1940 by classes that taught musical theory and practice. There had been a trend for the creation of junior bands since around the early 1930s. J. C. Wright was the first bandmaster and senior members assisted in teaching the newcomers, who numbered around 60 boys within a year. [11] Besses Band faced "massive problems" during the Second World War and the new section ensured its survival. [10]
The Boys' Band won the National Youth Band Championships in five of the six years between inauguration of the competition in 1945 and its demise in 1950. It was ineligible to compete in 1948 because the rules stipulated that a band that had won on three consecutive occasions could not compete. [12]
Peter Skellern was a notable member. He had success as a singer-pianist and entertainer, sometimes collaborating with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band in recordings, on television and on stage. [13]
The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced". The euphonium is a valved instrument. Nearly all current models have piston valves, though some models with rotary valves do exist.
The flugelhorn, also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though some are in C. It is a type of valved bugle, developed in Germany in the early 19th century from a traditional English valveless bugle. The first version of a valved bugle was sold by Heinrich Stölzel in Berlin in 1828. The valved bugle provided Adolphe Sax with the inspiration for his B♭ soprano (contralto) saxhorns, on which the modern-day flugelhorn is modelled.
The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a characteristic mellow tone quality and blends well with other brass.
The bugle is a simple signaling brass instrument with a wide conical bore. It normally has no valves or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its natural harmonic notes, and pitch is controlled entirely by varying the air and embouchure.
Whitefield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on undulating ground above the Irwell Valley, along the south bank of the River Irwell, 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Bury, and 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Manchester. Prestwich and the M60 motorway lie just to the south.
The serpent is a low-pitched early wind instrument in the brass family developed in the Renaissance era. It has a trombone-like mouthpiece, with tone holes and fingering like a woodwind instrument. It is named for its long, conical bore bent into a snakelike shape, and unlike most brass instruments is made from wood with an outer covering of leather. A distant ancestor of the tuba, the serpent is related to the cornett and was used for bass parts from the 17th to the early 19th centuries.
The ophicleide is a family of conical-bore keyed brass instruments invented in early 19th-century France to extend the keyed bugle into the alto, bass and contrabass ranges. Of these, the bass ophicleide in C or B♭ took root over the course of the 19th century in military bands and as the bass of orchestral brass sections throughout Western Europe, replacing the serpent and its later upright derivatives. By the end of the 19th century however, it had been largely superseded by early forms of the modern tuba, developed from valved ophicleides.
William Rimmer (1862–1936) was a Lancashire composer and conductor of brass band music who was particularly well known for his marches.
The Distin family was an ensemble of British musicians in the 19th century who performed on brass instruments, and from 1845 promoted the saxhorn. One of them, Henry Distin, later became a noted brass instrument manufacturer in the United Kingdom and United States.
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands, but may be more correctly termed military bands, concert bands, or "brass and reed" bands.
Events from the year 1818 in the United Kingdom.
Besses o' th' Barn is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 10,664. It lies between Radcliffe and Prestwich.
Henry Ernest Geehl [pronounced 'Gale'] was an English pianist, conductor, composer and arranger.
Grace Elizabeth Agnes Annie Cole was a British trumpeter and bandleader. She was lead soloist in Ivy Benson's all-girls band during the 1940s, going on to form her own all-female band in the 1950s.
Besses United Reformed Church is designated a Grade II building by Historic England. It is situated between Bury New Road and Bury Old Road at Besses o' th' Barn, an area of Whitefield, Greater Manchester, England.
The North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) is a governing body for British-style brass bands hosted in North America. In addition to promoting the development of brass band in North American, NABBA sponsors a yearly national competition.
Roy Newsome was a British conductor, composer, arranger, broadcaster, music educator, and cornet player.
Edward Percival "Percy" Code was an Australian classical composer and musician, specialising in cornet and trumpet. He is best known for his compositions for brass band, including many solo works.
John Enderby Jackson was an English musician, composer, and the self-described founder of the British brass band competition and the cheap day railway excursion.
The Cyfarthfa Band was a private brass band created in the mid-19th century by Robert Thompson Crawshay, the future owner of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
Citations
Bibliography
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
