"Music is a way of ordering time.
Counting and playing in tempo force us to slow down our thoughts, focusing on what we do in the present moment. Doing so with a group of familiar friends is calming, energizing entertainment. Add in the fact that, as brass players, we are practicing deep breathing techniques at the same time, and this begins to sound like a self-help book in the making. In the same way that we stop noticing our breath, even though we do it repeatedly to survive, we musicians stop noticing the easy perfection of our craft. Breathe in, breathe play. As we get wrapped up in the shopping, cooking, working and playing, and the constant bombardment of the media and grating commercial music of December, we forget how simple it is to focus and make music."
The GBB is (we think justifiably) proud of the fact that our first baritone player, Betsy Jones, is also the editor of The Bridge, the official publication of the North American Brass Band Association. The above is an excerpt from Betsy's column in the December, 2009, edition of that newsletter. Go to nabbabridge.org to read more of Betsy's thoughts and to catch up on all the news from the brass band movement in North America.
