By Alex Hendricksen
An orchestra consists of woodwinds, brass, percussion, and stringed instruments. Orchestral music as we know it began in the early seventeenth century, but had even older variations with different instrumentation. Long before orchestral music was popularized, the Renaissance era was king. After that period, Baroque was the main form of instrumental music. Baroque contained more rudimentary versions of the instruments that we know today, such as the Sackbut or the Lute. Both instruments exist today in the form of the trombone and the guitar. The Classical era really only started by the early 18th century to the early 19th century. After the Romantic period, we reached the Modern era. While each period in time had distinctive styles, none of them had as much influence as the Classical era.
In the early eighteen hundreds, we started to see a shift from traditional orchestral music towards a slightly different style of music composition. This new type of music includes brass, woodwinds–notably saxophones–and occasionally a string bass. Certain individuals led to this newer genre being popularized, such as Gustav Holst–creator of “The Planets” Suites–and John Phillip Sousa–creator of the sousaphone and our nation’s march. These notable individuals popularized this new radical form of instrumental music by primarily writing their pieces to feature the developing instruments.
These early day bands did not take off very quickly. The reputation of orchestra was too high to simply be swept away. Over time, the popularity of concert band rose as they were generally easier to assemble and had more playable repertoire. Though this was nice, it left concert bands with the stigma of amateurism. This is one of the reasons that composers could not strictly compose just for concert band.
Other than simply the passage of time, how was concert band popularized? It can be traced back to the United States Military Bands. The military adopted this style of music because new instruments such as the sousaphone or the saxophone could easily be played while moving. This allowed for easier transportation of music as well as more opportunities or ways to play. These bands would go around the country playing marches in parades, and would often times also visit schools. Districts took interest in this and started forming bands in schools.
Ever since schools have taken interest in music, millions of students have participated in programs throughout the country. Students start as early as middle school, and can often rent an instrument from the school or from local businesses that occasionally offer student discounts. As aforementioned, band instruments are typically easier to source than orchestral instruments. They are also generally less expensive, which makes them more attainable for aspiring musicians.
All of this poses the question of whether or not concert band is ideal to have in schools over orchestral instruments. The Benicia High Band Director Candice Crismond would like to have an orchestra, but we’re ultimately limited by the school’s monetary policy, as well as the space restrictions posed by a limited band room. Solano County has also been a marching band dominated area for the last fifty or so years, which ultimately makes pushing through as an orchestra difficult. Since our school and our general area focuses on marching bands, there is no real opportunity for schools to even use instruments such as violins or cellos.
Though people may be excited, our school and many others do not have the space or the financial resources to start an orchestra.
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