Wind & Rhythm is a one-hour weekly program devoted to the music of wind bands hosted by Doug Brown.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
The mission of Wind & Rhythm is to build a community of individuals who love wind bands; to grow a wider audience for the music bands play; and to provide a venue for band members and directors to speak about their art.
To accomplish our mission we produce both on-air and online programming that invites listeners to reconnect with their roots as members of bands; encourages listeners to participate in community music-making; and provides for listeners an opportunity to hear the best bands in the world.
The mission of Wind & Rhythm is to build a community of individuals who love wind bands; to grow a wider audience for the music bands play; and to provide a venue for band members and directors to speak about their art.
To accomplish our mission we produce both on-air and online programming that invites listeners to reconnect with their roots as members of bands; encourages listeners to participate in community music-making; and provides for listeners an opportunity to hear the best bands in the world.
The power and wonderful sonority of music expressed with the very air you breathe as performed by a wind band has enchanted me since 5th grade (1960 or so). Those first vinyl recordings I heard of the Pines of the Appian Way were played over and over again in my home. At ten years old, I didn’t know that Respighi wrote it for a string orchestra. It was just great music. At the same time, Fred Fennell was making history with the Eastman Wind Ensemble validating my appreciation for wind band music but I was too young to understand the significance of his pioneering work.
Ten years later, I was shocked when I visited New York City, home of the classical record labels, to find almost all genres of serious music scrambling for recognition. Classical music was in decline (has it always been in decline?) and the brilliance of those Fennell recordings was overshadowed by the perception that the days of classical music were over, as if to say there were no new young fans. If you think that the appreciation of classical music is a vicarious experience, one exercised by simply attending symphony concerts and listening to recordings, then perhaps you should be concerned. But, those new fans are actually out there. Every fall a new class of young people begins their encounter with classical music by immersion in it. In the US alone, 1/8th of the population (38 million) played in bands. They “owned” Respighi’s music by learning it for performance. Wind band members aren’t simply watching and listening to others perform music. They are performing it themselves. Sousa would be proud–he wanted people to do music.* |
We need tools to share our passion for our genre of music, and out of this need, the Wind & Rhythm program began with a drum roll in 2008. Since then, once a week, we’ve convened the community, “the gathering place for people who love band music,” to hear wind band music from ensembles all over the world. We started in radio at the invitation of our first broadcast carrier and as of this writing have grown to 25 stations carrying the show every week. At the beginning of our 4th season (2011) we became associated with PRX (Public Radio Exchange) and since then our programs have been available for streaming on-demand at any time for free. Thousands of people listen to Wind & Rhythm all over the globe by using the free internet stream.
There has never been a venue that supported wind bands in this way. Wind & Rhythm is a place of our own. As we grow, we need to learn to share our passion with others, all 38 million former band members, the millions of future band members, their families, and their friends with the message that “Wind & Rhythm is made for you!” Join us by stopping by the “gathering place for people who love band music” this week. I think you’ll find a home. *Sousa wrote the article “The Menace of Mechanical Music” in 1906. Doug Brown is the Executive Director and Host of Wind & Rhythm, Inc. a syndicated radio program which is also available for free internet streaming on demand. He was a student of Leonard Falcone and Dr. Harry Begian at Michigan State University where he was a Television and Radio major. |
