The musical society community bands of Valencia, Spain: A global study of their administration, instrumentation, repertoire and performance activities.

摘要

The present study describes the contemporary community band movement in the autonomous region of Spain known as the Comunidad Valenciana, of which Valencia is the capital city. It is the result of a research project conducted between 1993 and 1995 that was made possible by a grant from the Fulbright Program of the United States Information Agency.; The bands of this study are fostered by a local socio-cultural organization called a musical society. There are 433 such musical societies with bands in Valencia. More than two-thirds of all municipalities have musical societies, with 10% of them having more than one. The membership of the musical societies is comprised of musicians and non-musicians and frequently comprises a sizable percentage of a town's population. The musical society sponsors bands and other ensembles, provides music education and serves as a social center. The bands observed range in size from 35 to 178, with an average of 61 musicians. They are also supported by the Valencian Federation of Musical Societies, all branches of government, the business community and the media.; The band's instrumentation often features a wide range and number of saxophones and includes string instruments such as cellos and string basses. The flugelhorn, euphonium and English horn are used most frequently as solo color instruments. The symphonic repertoire performed includes orchestral and zarzuela transcriptions as well as original compositions by local and foreign band composers. The marching repertoire includes bullfight, regional, sentat, dianero and concert forms of pasodobles; processional, military, Moorish, Christian and concert forms of marches; and anthems.; The band's non-competitive performance activities include concerts, band festivals, honor bands and massed bands. Band contests are sponsored at the municipal, provincial, regional and international levels. Many of these performance types are combined for special celebrations like patron saint holidays, Las Fallas and Moros y Cristianos.; Much remains to be studied about other regional and national trends of band activity in Spain. Although the musical society bands of Valencia constantly face new challenges, their integration into the social and cultural fabrics of their communities bodes well for their continued prosperity.