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Thread: Brits & brass...far ahead of the US, unfortunately.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Hidden Valley, AZ
    Posts
    1,034

    Brits & brass...far ahead of the US, unfortunately.

    Playing with the London Symphony Orchestra...

    https://www.4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?id=37610

    The funding and interest of such activities there is wonderful...

    DG

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    It's interesting because at least in this case it is NOT (at least directly) government-supported to any degree -- aside from a couple of temporary grants at one point and perhaps some indirect support which isn't made explicit. They do acknowledge the Department for Education and the Arts Council of England for support, but it's not clear how much that is or how it's done. And they mention one point where they lost some Department for Education support because that department decided to throw their money (quite reasonably) in the direction of a system of "county youth bands". It was started as a "registered charity" (like a 501(c)(3) corporation in the US -- as many community bands are), and transitioned to a "Limited Company" (I'm guessing their equivalent of the LLC in the US). They do say explicitly (and seem proud of this) that they have "no direct government funding".

    They acknowledge a lengthy history of struggling for financing ("a huge problem"), and wisely went in the direction of corporate support to some degree (where the big money is, if you can get it). They also seem to have attracted a lot of donations by giving free concerts (something I've seen work in a community band as well). And the lion's share of the credit has to go to all those people who contributed their time, expertise, and services to administratively running the organization and serving in educational and artistic roles as well. This has been a gigantic "contribution in kind", the value of which is difficult to assess and can't be over-stated.

    This appears to be quite a wonderful organization, "public-supported" in some broad sense, but not "government-supported". And it seems to have been run as a business from the beginning -- to which I think its longevity can be largely attributed. But do keep in mind that it's ... well, should we say ... somewhat "exclusive". Not for average or mediocre students. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, and in fact it's good to see -- since membership in it is "based on musical merit".
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

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