British brass band
In Britain, a brass band is a musical ensemble comprising a standardized range of brass and percussion instruments. The modern form of the brass band in the United Kingdom dates back to the 19th century, with a vibrant tradition of competition based around communities and local industry, with colliery bands being particularly notable. The Stalybridge Old Band, for example, first performed in 1815 and is still in existence, although it did not become a brass band until the 1840s.
Bands using the British instrumentation are the most common form of brass band in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and are also widespread in continental Europe, Japan and North America. The tradition for brass bands in the UK is continuing, and local communities and schools have brass bands. British band contests are highly competitive, with bands organized into five sections much like a football league. Competitions are held throughout the year at local, regional, and national levels, and at the end of each year there are promotions and relegations. The 2019 holder of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain was the Cory Band from South Wales.
A selection of brass bands can be experienced at the annual Durham Miners' Gala. There are also hotly-contested annual events held on Whit Friday in the Saddleworth area of Greater Manchester in which hundreds of bands compete.
Etymology
The terms brass band and silver band are synonymous in that the vast majority of bands termed either brass or silver incorporate musicians playing a mix of lacquered brass and silver-plated instruments. However, in the days when plain or lacquered brass instruments were not as costly as silver-plated ones, the term silver band implied an ensemble that could afford the latter and were thus perceived to be more successful. With the cost of each type now being similar, the distinction between brass and silver bands is generally not made. There are, however, some brass bands which carried the name silver prize band as a result of their successes in contests and competitions. As time went on, some kept the name silver but not necessarily the instruments. Nowadays, the only real difference is that silver bands are located mainly in the south of England and brass bands in the north, although some silver bands do still exist in the North and many brass bands exist in the South.Instrumentation
British brass bands are limited to specific instruments, excluding, for instance, trumpets and French horns, which are found in orchestras and concert bands.The standard instrumentation is as follows:
- 1 soprano cornet
- 9 cornets –
- * Front row: one principal cornet, three solo cornets
- * Back row: one repiano cornet, two 2nd cornets, two 3rd cornets
- 1 flugelhorn
- 3 tenor horns called alto horn in many countries – solo, 1st, 2nd
- 2 baritone horns – 1st, 2nd
- 2 tenor trombones – 1st, 2nd
- 1 bass trombone
- 2 euphoniums
- 2 E♭ basses, also known as E♭ tubas
- 2 B♭ basses, also known as B♭ tubas
- 2 to 4 percussion
Notation
With the exception of percussion, bass trombone and some older tenor trombone music, all parts are transposing and written in the treble clef with the instrument's lowest open note notated as middle C. This means that for every valved instrument, from the basses to the soprano cornet, a given note on the stave corresponds to the same valve fingering, enabling players to move more easily between parts. This system is unique to UK-style brass bands, though historically the North American drum and bugle corps activity followed the brass band convention of all-treble-clef writing.Tenor trombone music is usually in treble clef like the other instruments in the band, though older scores or marches sometimes use tenor clef.
Bass trombone music is written at concert pitch in bass clef. This was historically due to this part being taken by a G bass trombone, rather than the modern B♭ bass trombone. As instrument technology modernized, the need for a bass trombone in G diminished, with the introduction of the B♭ bass trombone with F rotary valve. The larger bore and open wrap of the F valve gave the B♭ bass trombone a lower available playing register than the straight G bass trombone.
Tuned percussion is written in concert pitch with the appropriate clef for the instrument – e.g. bass clef for timpani, treble clef for glockenspiel. Unpitched percussion parts are written in neutral clef on a 1- to 5-line stave using standard percussion notation, though some older scores may use bass and/or treble clefs.
United Kingdom
History
The rise of brass bands in nineteenth-century Britain owed much to industrialisation, armed conflict, and improvements to instrument designs. Village and church ensembles had existed in the eighteenth century, while military bands, which featured a mix of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments, proliferated during the Napoleonic Wars. The British Army began experimenting with all-brass bands from the late 1810s; the first civilian brass bands, featuring instruments such as keyed bugles, trumpets and trombones, emerged by the end of the 1820s. These early brass ensembles were often organised by former regimental musicians: the Waterloo veteran James Sanderson led a 'military brass band' in Leamington Spa and Warwick in 1829.Wind and brass bands enjoyed the support of industrial employers who sponsored bands to promote discipline, community spirit, and temperance among their workers. The advent of Adolphe Sax's valved brass designs, which were easier to play and produced a more accurate, consistent sound, also helped fuel the growth of the brass band movement from the 1840s. Arguably brass bands were an expression of the local solidarity and aspirations of newly formed or rapidly growing communities. This was seen, for instance, in the creation of large-scale brass band competitions by the late 1850s. In 1853 John Jennison, owner of Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester, agreed to stage the first British open brass band championships. The event was attended by a crowd of over 16,000 and continued annually until 1981. Brass bands reached their peak in the 1890s, when there were around 5,000 brass bands in the country. Today, there are 1,200 brass bands in Britain with around 30,000 players.
Many British bands were originally either works bands or sponsored by various industrial concerns. This was particularly evident in coal mining areas, for example, bands such as the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band in Yorkshire. Bands sponsored by factories include The Black Dyke Mills Band, Yorkshire Imperial Band, Foden's sponsored by the truck manufacturer, Fairey sponsored by the aircraft manufacturer, and Leyland Band sponsored by the vehicle manufacturer. One of the reasons for this was to keep the workers from organizing in radical groups. With the decline of these industries several bands have dissolved and others now draw their membership from other industries and other parts of the community. The Brighouse and Rastrick Band, is unique in having operated continually at the highest level without sponsorship, drawing its income from regular concerts, public donations and sales of recordings and merchandise.
The leading bands in Wales include the Cory Band, Tredegar Town Band and Tongwynlais Temperance Band The leading bands in Scotland are The Cooperation Band, Whitburn Band and the Kirkintilloch Band. All these bands compete at the highest level in the banding movement. In Northern Ireland the Brass Band League currently has 26 members.
Image:silver band.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Brass banding across the generations
There are also many non-contesting or 'community' brass bands in the UK providing entertainment for audiences and enjoyment for musicians of all ages.
Contesting in the United Kingdom
British banding is highly competitive, with bands organized into five sections much like a football league – Championship section, 1st section, 2nd section, 3rd section and 4th section. Competitions are held throughout the year at local, regional, and national levels, and at the end of each year there are promotions and relegations.At a national level the main contest is the National Brass Band Championship, and this determines a band's section. For this, the UK is split into 8 regions: London and Southern Counties, Midlands, North of England, North West, Scotland, Wales, West of England, and Yorkshire. Each year in Spring the bands compete in a regional contest for their section, and the top two or three in each section go on to the "National Finals" in Autumn. As of 2025, the finals for Sections 1 to 4 are held at The Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse, and the finals for the Championship Section at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The bands are awarded points for their result, and this is added to the previous two years to give a three-year total. Two or three bands with the best total are promoted, and two or three bands are relegated.
There are also separate contests for university brass bands, including the annual UniBrass contest, founded at Lancaster University in 2010 and hosted in 2025 by the University of Cardiff. The Cambridge and Oxford University brass bands also compete against each other in annual 'varsity' contests.
The held annually has a Youth Champs' non-competitive section offering the opportunity for young people new to brass to take part and contribute a performance without the pressure of competition.