The Sociology of Wind Bands: Amateur Music Between Cultural Domination and Autonomy

246 Pages·2013·2.37 MB·English

by  Vincent Dubois

The Sociology of Wind BandS
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The Sociology of Wind Bands
amateur Music Between
cultural domination and autonomy
VincenT duBoiS
University of Strasbourg, France
Jean-MaTThieu Méon
University of Lorraine, France
eMManuel Pierru
University of Lille, France
Translated from French by Jean-Yves Bart
originally published in french as Les mondes de l’harmonie,
by la dispute, Paris 2009
© Vincent dubois, Jean-Matthieu Méon and emmanuel Pierru 2013
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Vincent dubois, Jean-Matthieu Méon and emmanuel Pierru have asserted their right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work.
Published with the support of the french Ministry of culture and communication – direction
régionale des affaires culturelles d’alsace, the ceraPS, the creM and the institut universitaire
de france.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
Wey court east 110 cherry Street
union road Suite 3-1
farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
Surrey, gu9 7PT uSa
england
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
dubois, Vincent.
[Mondes de l’harmonie. english]
The sociology of wind bands : amateur music between cultural domination and autonomy /
by Vincent dubois, Jean-Matthieu Méon and emmanuel Pierru ; translated by Jean-yves Bart.
p. cm. -- (Ashgate popular and folk music series)
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-6185-2 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-6186-9 (ebook) 1. Bands
(Music)--France--Social aspects. I. Méon, Jean-Matthieu. II. Pierru, Emmanuel. III. Bart,
Jean-yves. iV. Title.
Ml3800.d82 2013
306.4'8420944--dc23
ISBN 9781409461852 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409461869 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781409461876 (ebk – ePUB)
V
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
General Editor’s Preface ix
Preface to the English Edition xi
Acknowledgements xix
Introduction 1
Part I: On the FrInges OF the MusIcal FIeld
1 Did You Say ‘Lowbrow Music’? 11
2 The Wind Band World 49
Part II: the ecOlOgy and ecOnOMy OF
an aMateur PractIce
3 Musical Integration 83
4 The Social Life of the Bands 107
Part III: PersPectIves On cultural autOnOMy
5 The Transfer of Social Constraint 135
6 Social Displacement and ‘Musicalization’ of the Practice 165
Appendix 1: Methodology and Techniques of Inquiry 195
Appendix 2: Interviews Conducted 207
References 215
Index 223
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List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 The space of the musicians 44
2.1 The space of the bands 52
Tables
1.1 The main socio-demographic features of wind band musicians 29
1.2 Wind band musicians: lower and intermediate social origins 31
1.3 A generally upward social mobility 32
1.4 A strong rural anchoring 33
1.5 Predominantly working-class leisure activities 34
1.6 Relatively unspecified musical tastes 37
1.7 A growing feminization? 39
1.8 The continual rise in educational attainment 40
1.9 The rise in levels of music training 41
2.1 Little stylistic differentiation 51
2.2 The importance of the association with a music school 56
5.1 The medals – rewarding social rather than musical skills 142
5.2 Some specialized musical venues 152
5.3 The importance of local social life in the musical performances 153
6.1 Types of orientation of policies targeting wind bands 180
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General Editor’s Preface
The upheaval that occurred in musicology during the last two decades of the
twentieth century has created a new urgency for the study of popular music
alongside the development of new critical and theoretical models. A relativistic
outlook has replaced the universal perspective of modernism (the international
ambitions of the 12-note style); the grand narrative of the evolution and dissolution
of tonality has been challenged, and emphasis has shifted to cultural context,
reception and subject position. Together, these have conspired to eat away at the
status of canonical composers and categories of high and low in music. A need has
arisen, also, to recognize and address the emergence of crossovers, mixed and new
genres, to engage in debates concerning the vexed problem of what constitutes
authenticity in music and to offer a critique of musical practice as the product of
free, individual expression.
Popular musicology is now a vital and exciting area of scholarship, and the
Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series presents some of the best research in
the field. Authors are concerned with locating musical practices, values and
meanings in cultural context, and draw upon methodologies and theories developed
in cultural studies, semiotics, poststructuralism, psychology and sociology.
The series focuses on popular musics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
It is designed to embrace the world’s popular musics from Acid Jazz to Zydeco,
whether high tech or low tech, commercial or non-commercial, contemporary
or traditional.
Professor Derek B. Scott
Professor of Critical Musicology
University of Leeds