The Sociology of Wind Bands

'A wonderful book, historically sensitive, theoretically attuned, empirically rigorous, and analytically deft. Of interest to scholars of both music and culture, it deserves a place along such celebrated works as Ruth Finnegan's Hidden Musicians.' Timothy J. Dowd, Emory University, USA 'A compelling study of the way in which traditional non-professional wind ensembles have adapted to changing social, political, and cultural conditions. The book beautifully illuminates how an institution that the dominant culture in France has not recognized eludes conventional cultural classifications and has resisted the kind of cultural domination that Pierre Bourdieu so powerfully analyzed.' Jane F. Fulcher, University of Michigan, USA 'This is a wonderful and moving study of wind bands and their followers, making sympathetic sense of their social and musical worlds in terms of their location between "highbrow" musical forms and the commercial genres of the popular music industry. A richly illuminating study which adds greatly to our understanding of a neglected musical culture.' Tony Bennett, University of Western Sydney, Australia ’This publication is to be welcomed by musicologists and sociologists as a substantial and well-researched contribution to our understanding of wind bands’. Music and Letters