A Comparative Study of Four American Professional Wind Bands
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A Comparative Study of Four American Professional Wind Bands Mark Tse A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts University of Washington Reading Committee: Timothy Salzman, Chair David Rahbee Giselle Wyers Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Music © Copyright 2020 Mark Tse 2 University of Washington Abstract A Comparative Study of Four American Professional Wind Bands Mark Tse Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Timothy Salzman Music This study compares the repertoire, business models, and philosophies of four American professional wind bands; Dallas Winds, Lone Star Wind Orchestra, San Diego Winds, and the Royal Hawaiian Band. For the purposes of this study, “professional” is defined as generating sufficient income to pay the performers. The Royal Hawaiian Band is an outlier of professional wind bands because of its history and function. The other three bands perform two to nine concerts per season like the first American orchestras. For these young professional bands to achieve comparable success as current professional orchestras, they should make similar revolutionary leaps (not evolutionary steps) that early American orchestras made to guarantee their performers a full season of concerts, enough to provide a livable income. 3 To 爸妈 4 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank the chair of my committee, Professor Timothy Salzman, who graciously accepted me into the program and has taught me so much, both about the world of music and the world outside of music. I will be forever indebted. Thank you to Dr. David Rahbee for taking me on as a student of orchestral conducting, giving me the wonderful opportunity to conduct the UW Campus Philharmonia, and your help in preparing me for my recital. I always felt supported by you. Thank you to Dr. Steven Morrison for the all the fantastic classes I was able to be a part of, always expanding my brain and challenging my assumptions. Thank you as well for the penetrating questions that helped with my general exams. Thank you to Dr. Giselle Wyers who stepped in to complete the committee after Dr. Morrison’s departure and for the wonderful insight you have given me. I would like to thank the following people and organizations, for which this dissertation would not be possible: Jerry Junkin and Kim Campbell, of Dallas Winds; Eugene Corporon, Christopher Tucker, and Jacqueline Townsend, of Lone Star Wind Orchestra and the University of North Texas; Gregg L. Hanson, James Sepulvado, Ingvi Kallen, and Amy Burmeister, of San Diego Winds and the University of Arizona; and Clarke Bright and Steven Agasa, of the Royal Hawaiian Band. Finally, I would like to thank my parents and friends for their never-ending support. This dissertation caps off eight years of graduate schools, and five and a half degrees. While everyone else was getting married, having kids, buying homes and 5 getting promoted, I was back in school for grade twenty-eight. At one point in time, I noticed that almost every item of clothing I was wearing was a gift from my family and friends: shoes, socks, pants, shirt, jacket, coat, scarf, gloves, and watch. So, thank you to my parents Ben and Eva, my brother Roy, my sister Nat, for all the support through the years, flying me out to San Francisco or back home to Toronto for a mental reprieve. Thank you to my old friends Matt, Brent, Rachel, and Jen Lee, as well as newer friends picked up along the way: Jen Lang, Magdalena, Arielle, and Abbie. Finally, thanks to Max, Misty and Miki who always gave me a reason to laugh and to come home. Preface During my Ph.D. work in music education, it occurred to me that there exists a strange discrepancy in North America between the music learned in schools (mostly bands and choirs), and what is available for consumption in the “real world”: orchestras. Where and how did these professional string players receive their training? What happens to students studying euphonium and classical saxophone after college? Why are the proportions of bands to orchestras in schools not maintained from elementary school, through university, to the professional world? While reflecting about the need for professional wind bands, I was simultaneously researching the history of the wind band and the century-long quest to gain greater recognition from the larger musical community (university colleagues, professional reviewers, etc.) through improvement in the quality of the repertoire. While the band world largely succeeded in winning the esteem of its academic peers 6 through a century of repertoire development, it remains largely unheard of in the larger music marketplace. When Professor Frank Battisti came to Seattle to adjudicate for the Pacific Northwest Band Festival in 2018, I took him out for lunch as a gesture of thanks for connecting me with Professor Salzman and the University of Washington (UW) band program. Our conversation eventually led to discussing his efforts to invite professional music critics to university band concerts, and to first educate them by providing recordings before they attended concerts. While the mission succeeded in changing the perception about the quality of collegiate wind bands amongst those reviewers, it did little to spark a continued interest. People are not accustomed to engagement with collegiate level arts productions. The creation and development of professional civic wind bands seems to be slowly solving this century long problem (Reynolds, 2019). However, the growth of these bands is sluggish or stagnant and there appears to be an insurmountable gap between their seasons of a few concerts a year compared to an average of over a hundred concerts a year by top American orchestras (see Figure 0-1: Average Performance Activity and Participation per Orchestra (2010-14) (Voss, Voss, Yair, & Lega, 2016) below). 7 Figure 0-1: Average Performance Activity and Participation per Orchestra (2010-14) (Voss, Voss, Yair, & Lega, 2016) This dissertation is not intended to deeply explore the rationale for professional civic wind bands in America. There are already others who argue this case. This research is intended to guide those already in the development of professional wind bands forward to reach the next level of commercial success. Included is a brief survey of the evolution and current state of three American professional civic bands in contrast with the origins of the three oldest American professional orchestras. Both histories show a slow and evolutionary development in the early years but the professional orchestras suddenly exploded in their number of performances before the turn of the twentieth century. 8 A comparison of these early years of professional bands and orchestras will provide critical insight for the growing number of people endeavoring to start or develop their own professional wind bands, by showing them possible solutions to match the status of America’s top professional orchestras. 9 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 5 Preface ............................................................................................................................................ 6 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. 14 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 1: Introduction - The Case for Professional Wind Bands ...................................... 17 Chapter 2: The Problem ............................................................................................................ 21 Repertoire .............................................................................................................................................. 23 Sponsors ................................................................................................................................................. 24 Quality of conductors and players ..................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 3: Scope of Study ......................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 4: Sources of Information ........................................................................................... 29 Chapter 5: Methodology ........................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 6: A Brief History on the Development of Professional American Orchestras . 33 Average Salary of the 20 Top Orchestras, 2011-2012 Season ......................................................... 33 The First Orchestras ............................................................................................................................. 34 Major Permanent Orchestras and Dates of Origin .......................................................................... 35 The New York Philharmonic .............................................................................................................. 36 10 Chapter 7: The Current State of Professional Wind Bands .................................................. 37 Chapter 8: Dallas Winds ........................................................................................................... 41 History of the Organization ...............................................................................................................