Brass music to watch

In Switzerland, a transformation of everyday social and cultural life is underway that may have dramatic consequences, but is hardly ever made a political issue. A look at the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland shows: The Swiss Art Society was founded in 1806, the Swiss Music Society and the Swiss Society "for the Advancement of Education" in 1808, and the Swiss Gymnastics Association followed in 1832. In their day, they took over the political education of the people even before the parties were founded. In the 20th century, they played a decisive role in building political maturity and competence. In the villages and neighborhoods, choirs, brass bands and gymnasts enabled future politicians to gain experience in the financially sound implementation of projects and to raise awareness of the importance of assuming political and social responsibility. The latter is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve. Choirs and music clubs are struggling with a loss of members, not least because fewer and fewer people are prepared to take on this important responsibility and commit to it over a longer period of time.

The Willisau Musical Instrument Collection now seems to be experiencing just how difficult it is to counteract this. With its dedicated special exhibition Of tooting and blowing - brass music - a great tradition with a future The aim of the project is to make the everyday life of a village band, the brass band MG Schwarzenberg, the subject of reflection. It is based on material from photographer Hans Ueli Alder, who documented the ensemble's new uniform. The collection and its director Adrian Steger have supplemented the images with objects from the collection and instruments from the "Klingende Sammlung" in Bern. They trace the history of brass bands back to the drummers and pipers of the Middle Ages.

Apparently, however, the show has not met with the same response as previous special exhibitions on types of wood in instrument making, bells, house organs, harmonicas and plucked instruments. Whether this has to do with the fact that wind musicians perhaps don't question their own actions very much and simply want to have a good time in the club, or that only those who operate from within the community can generate attention in the wind music scene, can be left open.

The museum, which has found a home in the rooms of the former Willisauer Boten printing works, organized a series of sound rehearsals to accompany the exhibition. Each Sunday afternoon, small ensembles from the Brassband MG Schwarzenberg, the Feldmusik Willisau, the Jugendmusik of the Brassband MG Schwarzenberg and the "Brussig Quartett" of the Stadtmusik Willisau were guests. On March 11, a pleasingly large number of interested people and experts attended a presentation by trumpeter Markus Würsch, lecturer at the Lucerne and Bern universities, and Zimmerwald instrument maker Konrad Burri. They presented a reconstruction of the keyed trumpet. Keyboards were experimented with around 1800 in order to extend the range of the natural tone instrument in chromatic regions. This solution, which involved numerous technical compromises, became obsolete with the invention of the valve trumpet that is common today. However, Burri's keyed trumpet is more than just a historical reconstruction; it represents a further development and perfection of the technology. Würsch impressively demonstrated how it can be used to create a sound and character of its own that enriches the expressive spectrum of the trumpet.

The Willisau Musical Instrument Collection was opened in 2003. Since 2010, it has combined the collection of Lucerne native Heinrich Schumacher, which was long on display at the Richard Wagner Museum on Tribschen in Lucerne, with the collection of Leonie and Christian Patt-Tobler from Malix in the canton of Graubünden. The latter consists of instruments that can still be played, with a focus on the Middle Ages and Renaissance, which Christian Patt has recreated himself - from fiddles to trumpets and psalteries to tines. The Patt Collection was purchased by the Albert Koechlin Foundation in Lucerne in 2001. It was previously on display at the Kulturhaus Stadtmühle Willisau.

The special exhibition Von Tuten und Blasen has been extended until June 24, 2018. Further sound samples are also on the program. You can find out more on the website of the instrument collection. However, it would certainly also be interesting if wind music associations were to show the exhibition as a traveling exhibition at regional or cantonal music festivals at a later date. This would show that wind music in Switzerland has its own history and character, and that it is definitely worth reflecting on this at grassroots level.