Composer Michael Colgrass describes bands on his website:
Culturally they may be off the beaten track being part of academia and performing largely on campuses. But in reality they compete very well in musical excellence and numbers of performances compared to symphony orchestras. These worlds are close to my heart and I have written many works for both.
You can read the full write-up here.
As a music educator and band conductor myself, I hope these sentiments do not circulate only amongst our own close knit group. We must work to spread the joys of music-making to a larger audience. One of my colleagues has great ideas in this endeavor, and you can visit his website, Elastic Bands, here.
Culturally they may be off the beaten track being part of academia and performing largely on campuses. But in reality they compete very well in musical excellence and numbers of performances compared to symphony orchestras. These worlds are close to my heart and I have written many works for both.
You can read the full write-up here.
As a music educator and band conductor myself, I hope these sentiments do not circulate only amongst our own close knit group. We must work to spread the joys of music-making to a larger audience. One of my colleagues has great ideas in this endeavor, and you can visit his website, Elastic Bands, here.