Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/528

BAND. special kinds of bands are indicated by separate terms, such as string-course, lintel, frieze, etc. Bands are sometimes simple, sometimes broken up into decorative details. The band of a shaft is the molding by which shafts are encircled in mediæval architecture. When several bands are placed on the body of the shaft they are known as shaft-rings.

BAND. Originally the term 'band' had general reference to any combination of instru- ments organized for the performance of instru- mental music, in which sense it is still largely employed in England. In modern technical usage, it refers only to such combinations of instruments as are usually played on the march. Up to the Twelfth Century there had been no attempt at musical organization on the part of wandering or roving musicians — a condition due as much to the evil repute in which they were held as to the unsuitable character of their primitive instruments. About the Thirteenth Century, conditions had so far improved that recognition and sanction were conceded them, and bands of pipers and trumpeters came into existence.

So seriously did they value their art after this, that guilds were formed, the members of which elected a head or piper-king, who, in com- mon with the rank and file of the membership, was pledged to see "that no player, whether he be piper, drummer, fiddler, trumpeter, or per- former on any instrument, be allowed to accept engagements of any kind, whether in towns, vil- lages, or hamlets, unless he had previously en- rolled himself in the guild." The original guild Avas probably that of the Brotherhood of Saint Nicholas, organized at Vienna in 1228, which a hundred years later was placed under the con- trol of a regularly appointed board nominated by the Austrian Government. From these guilds, town bands were formed throughout Germany and Austria, consisting for the most part of fifes, flutes, schalmey, bombard, zinkers or cor- netti (six-holed horns, similar in shape to a cow's horn, and played Muth a special mouth- piece), bagpipes, viols, and drums. The develop- ment of the wind band (brass, wood- wind, and reed instruments) was curiously inlluenced by the peculiar restrictions defining the social status of every calling during the Middle Ages. Thus, the trumpets and kettle-drums were reserved exclusively for the nobility, and forbidden to ordinary minstrels. In some towns, stringent laws were passed forbidding bands of more than five or six pipers to play at an ordinary citizen's wedding, or other functions of similar impor- tance; bands of greater strength, or the full band, being reserved for civic and religious occasions. The music played by such bands was learned by ear, and rarely put into writing, in order to add effect to the supposedly secret nature of their order. Between the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries, music began to be noted down, and the monotonous character of the band-music (due to the impossibility of their horns and trumpets giving the third and seventh of the dominant chord) was largely done away with by adding a few trumpets tuned in other keys.

At the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, instrumental music had separated very distinctly into the three or four great groups or divisions in which we find it to-day. The full orchestra, combining as it does every element and vehicle of musical expression, addressed itself to the musical intellects; while the brass band retained its mission as church and community music (a subject which is treated under ), and the military band appealed to the masses at large. The bands of to-day may be grouped as follows: (a) Drum and fife, or drum and bugle; (b) brass band; (c) military band. Drums, fifes, and bugles or trumpets have remained practically unchanged, and are now, as they always have been, inseparably connected with all that pertains to the life of the soldier. The brass band has ever been closely connected with the services of the Church, and in England has reached its highest development through the numerous workingmen's band organizations of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Such bands as Besses-o'th'-Barn, Staylybridge Old Band (under Alexander Owen, a celebrated leader), and similar bodies, in many instances composed entirely of coal-miners or factory operatives, have been reckoned among the most potent influences in the modern development of music among the masses ot England. Brass bands are met with in the United States, but only where military bands are not possible. The military band as a musical organization (as a regimental or military feature, it will be found treated under ) is the modern representative of the original town band. The first French military bands, organized by Lully (q.v.) under the commission of Louis XIV., consisted of a quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) of oboes, with regimental drums for all of which he wrote separate parts. The music of the town bands was performed by all the instruments in unison. Queen Elizabeth's band had consisted of ten trumpets and six trombones, besides a few other instruments. The Lully of the Germans was a civilian musician named Wieprecht, who, because of severe opposition, succeeded in getting his scheme of instrumentation introduced into but a single Prussian regiment. Sax (q.v.) of France succeeded in the introduction of similar reforms in the army of Napoleon III. The invention and rapid improvement of the clarinet (see ) marked a new era, and it became as important and essential a feature of the military band as is the violin to the orchestra. Next followed the invention of the bassoon (or fagotti) and French horns. The saxophone family (B flat soprano, F flat alto, B flat tenor, E flat barytone, and B flat bass), although practically the invention of the French band-master Sax, have only within the last few years become common to military bands generally.

The modern concert military band may be described as a result of the following causes: (1) A development of the brass band; (2) a desire to give more complete artistic expression to the increasing repertoire of band music; (3) the prominence given to the wind band, in the composition of the great modern orchestral composers. To the latter cause, and to the easy transition from orchestra to band of most modern orchestral compositions, may be indirectly attributed the great increase of the wood-wind section of the concert band — flutes, oboes, clarinets, and contra-bassoons (contra fagotti). An instance of this may be found in Wagner's 'Elizabeth's Prayer,' where the wood-winds are used alone. Similarly, in many of the most beautiful passages of the Nibelungen music, the