The Sociology of Wind BandS This page has been left blank intentionally 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 This page has been left blank intentionally 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 This page has been left blank intentionally 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