1.5 A short history of wind bands  (Page 4/5)

The most important development for bands of the twentieth century was the adoption of instrument instruction in the public schools. Before 1910, school music programs were mainly vocal. From 1910 to 1925 there was increasing attention to instrumental instruction, eventually leading to the organization of regional, state, and national competitions for bands, small ensembles, and even soloists from the schools. The days when the local militia band or the community brass band might be the main source of public musical entertainment are long gone, replaced by a hugely varied musical marketplace in which large wind ensembles fill only a small niche. The most important function of this type of ensemble in our society is as a well-organized venue for music instruction. The various bands at schools throughout the country give young people an opportunity to acquire high-level musical skills and knowledge, in an atmosphere that promotes leadership and cooperation as much as it does personal development.

Developments in instrumentation

As mentioned above , major developments and innovations in the instruments themselves were necessary to producing today's top-quality band, which can perform with the same precision tuning and virtuosic playing as the orchestra. One such development was the rise of the clarinet . Invented around 1690 (by improvements on an earlier instrument called the chalumeau ), the clarinet was already in common use by 1720. Easier to play while marching, and with a large range , bright timbre , and great capability for nuance and dynamics , the clarinet became a major part of most wind ensembles and eventually replaced the oboe in military and marching bands.

The bass section of the band also evolved during the eighteenth century. During the oboe period, the bass part had largely been filled by large double-reeds such as the curtall and bassoon . These were gradually replaced, largely by the trombone and the serpent , a large wooden instrument which, like the cornett , has the cup-shaped mouthpiece of a brass instrument, but the wooden body (with finger holes) of a woodwind.

Bands continued to change throughout the nineteenth century, however, largely due to tremendous technical improvements in the building of wind instruments. One major step was the development of the valve for brass instruments. Until the eighteen hundreds, the slide trombone was the only brass instrument that was fully chromatic , easily capable of playing any note in any key in tune. Natural horns and trumpets, without any valves, were basically bugle-type instruments, capable of playing only the notes of a single harmonic series . (Please see Standing Waves and Wind Instruments for more on this.) Instrument-makers first tried to fix this deficiency in trumpets with the keyed trumpets, and in horns with instruments that could change tubing length, and thus key, relatively quickly. (Please see The French Horn for more on this.)

The keys of the trumpet worked similarly to woodwind keys, opening holes in the instrument and making it effectively shorter and higher-pitched. The timbre and tuning of the instrument were not considered ideal, however, and keyed trumpets basically disappeared by the 1840's, replaced by valved trumpets.