• Preface ; Notes on Contributors ; Introduction ; Nineteenth-Century Bands: Making a Movement ; 'What's Wrong with Brass Bands?': Cultural Change and the Band Movement, 1918- c.1964 ; The Musical Revolution of the Mid-Nineteenth Century: From 'repeat and twiddle' to 'precision and snap' ; Instruments and Instrumentation of British Brass Bands ; God's Perfect Minstrels: The Bands of the Salvation Army ; The Brass Band in the Antipodes: Original Compositions for the British Popular Culture ; Building a Repertoire: Original Compositions for the British Brass Band (1913-98) ; Aspects of Performance Techniques: The Brass Band and its Influence on Other Brass-Playing ; Appendix 1. Prices of Brass Band Instruments ; Appendix 2. The Salvation Army ; Appendix 3. Contest Rules ; Appendix 4. Enderby Jackson's Crystal Palace Contests ; Appendex 5. Open and National Championship Results ; A Note on Discographies and Recordings ; Select Bibliography ; Index

This book, surely, is essential reading for all those who take a serious interest in this branch of music-making ... Here at last we have a history, as complete as human endeavour can make, of the birth, development, organization and repertoire of the brass band in the British sense of the term