Brass Bands
Although the most of the instruments used by British brass bands had existed and had been used together for some time, they only became a mass activity in the 1840s and 1850s out of village, church and military bands. Brass bands were a response to the process of industrialisation, which produced a large working class population, technological advancements, including more efficient piston valve instruments, which were easier to play and more accurate, and mass production that could quickly produce and distribute the instruments. Arguably, brass bands were an expression of the local solidarity and aspirations of newly formed or rapidly growing communities. This was particularly expressed in the rapid growth and organisation of bands, clearly seen in the creation of brass band competitions by the late 1850s. Brass bands probably reached their peak of popularity in the early decades of the twentieth century, when, it has been estimated, there were over 20,000 brass band instrumentalists in the country.
Read more about this topic: Early British Popular Music
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