New Orleans Brass Brand's

 This class has truly been fun. I really enjoyed it and I'm kind of sad it's over. KV you really made this interesting I had no idea we were going to learn so much in such a short period of time. When you said we had the option to talk about any place or anything. I decided I really wanted to focus on New Orleans Brass Bands the music is rooted in so much culture And with Mardi Gra being just around the corner I couldn't think of a better topic. 

When I think of New Orleans Brass Bands you think of parades, bright colors, costumes, and lots of laughter. When researching I was amazed to find that these brass bands started from European militaries. Which makes a lot of sense when you think of the alignment and how professional these bands are. Although they play a certain type of music they did not come to play. European militaries would use drummers and bugles to communicate with the troops on foot and on mounted horses. The bands would also entertain themselves off the field by playing on the side. 

Eventually the European troops made it to American specifically New Orleans. A man named John Philip Sousa the American composer became a member of the U.S Marine Corp Bands. He was known as the "March King". He actually invented the marching swing style tuba it's called sousaphone. Which is essential to the New Orleans Brass Band music. In the late 1800s and early 1900s this became the music to hear at parties, dances, Things really started to kick off when they hired black musicians to play and that's when the greatness got added to it. Along with the European troops the Spanish troops fully controlled New Orleans. They would gives the slaves a day off on Sundays. The slave owners would allow them to congregate in a open area called "Place De Negres".The slaves would entertain themselves by making good food, playing games, and playing music. The place was also called The Congo Square. 

This is a place were they felt like they could be themselves Africans. They weren't slaves in this moment but musicians. They would have bells, drums, other musical instruments and they would play along and just sing. What was insane to me while doing this research is that they were able to have this time because the Spanish slave owners were way more lenient than European owners they treated them more like human beings. The European slave owners demanded that they take up Christianity and that wasn't allowed. While Spanish Slave owners let them be and enjoy there music so much that this began to be a tradition they wanted them to enjoy their music they did not demand them to assimilate to their culture. So they kept playing at The Congo Square and this african music with instrument and mix of creole culture turned into New Orleans Brass Bands. 

This music is so beautiful and filled with so much texture, patterns, and rhythms. These bands usually consist of five to six trumpets or cornet players. They usually have four trombones and one bass trombone two baritone horns and one to tubas since they keep the beat to the music. The amazing thing about this music is that it usually has a polyphony sound to it and lots of improvisation and solos. Mostly from the trumpet, cornet, or trombone players. To be in these bands your music skills have to be to another level. These musicians do not come to play you better play or you will be outplayed. Although the story of how this music is created has so much depth and sadness to it. The music that was able to made from it is unexplainable below I will post some of my favorite brass bands. I also want to mention that the bands are always powered by men. You will not see a lot of representation of african american women that have brass bands. 

This is one of my absolute favorite brass band songs. Do What You Wanna the amount of funk in this piece is unexplainable. The Rebirth Brass Band is absolutely legendary I fully believe all of these men can out play anyone. The amount of improvisation of this song takes so much skill. When Beyonce performed Homecoming she showed a lot of love to Brass Bands she even sampled this exact song. 

Below is another brass band. You can see a little bit of the military marching band example in this video. They are aligned correctly and are proudly strutting down the street with there music. They sound absolutely beautiful.

                                        Sources: 

Matt Sakakeeny "New Orleans as a Circulatory System Black Music Research Journal   No.2 (Fall 2011) pp.291-235

Jason Berry" African Cultural Memory in New Orleans Music" Black Music Research Journal Vol.8 No.1 (1988) 

Mary Ellison " African American Music and Muskets in Civil War New Orleans" The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association Vol.35 No.3