They will strike up We are the Champions when their local football team wins the league and Chopin's Funeral March when one of their members enters his or her final resting place. They will hold up traffic as they march past and cause little children to gaze at their gleaming instruments and neatly pressed uniforms.

They are Flemish community music bands.
So popular are they that there is scarcely a municipality in Flanders that does not have at least one, and often two or three. In fact, there are 308 municipalities in Flanders, yet the Flemish Association of Music Bands and Musicians (Vlamo) has a membership of 1,180 community bands.

The first were established as far back as 1750. But their proliferation can be traced to a patent submitted in 1846 by a largely unknown clarinettist and musical instrument maker from Dinant. His name was Adolphe Sax. Sax's inventions, the entire saxophone family of instruments, were easier to play than other wind instruments," explains Filip Santy, CEO of Vlamo. "This, coupled with the fact that the saxophone was a Belgian invention, made it very popular in Flanders and encouraged a lot of people to join their local band."

At the same time, the increasing industrialisation of 19th-century Flanders led to the introduction of informal but far-reaching educational reforms. Community bands were identified as an excellent means of encouraging factory workers to improve themselves.

Verzuil me
But even these factors don't really explain why even a small Flemish village may have more community bands than bakers. The explanation, rather, lies in the Dutch word verzuiling. It describes the segregation of Belgian society into zuilen (pillars), according to religious, political and social ideologies.

Verzuiling resulted in Catholics, liberals and socialists having their own political parties, schools, newspapers, trade unions, hospitals, insurance schemes, sports clubs and yes, music ensembles. Hence, a village could easily end up with three different community bands, each beating the drum for their own particular political party. It must have been noisy around election time.

"A lot has changed in the last 20 years,"notes Santy. "Verzuiling has largely been abandoned, and a number of smaller community bands have merged."Vlamo was formed in 2002, thanks to revised legislation by the Flemish government, with the goal of ending the ideological differences between Flanders' then five different music federations and to promote a more professional way of supporting amateur music.
Vlamo offers artistic and technical support to its members by organising educational courses, camps and competitions, providing access to sheet music and recordings and just generally improving the image and quality of amateur music. Most of its members are traditional wind bands (harmonieorkesten), brass bands and fanfares, but there are increasing numbers of symphonic orchestras, big bands, drum and percussion bands, accordion ensembles, guitar ensembles and pipe bands.
Vlamo plays a particularly important role in encouraging young people to take up musical instruments and join a community band. They are helped by Flanders' firmly established and inexpensive system of musical education, which provides a continual flow of young talent from the music academies. Such a system clearly works: of the 69,000 people who play in the nearly 1,200 bands, 40% are younger than 25. Often children are encouraged to join the band in which their parents or grandparents play. "I know of community bands containing four generations of family," reports Santy.

The great start here
The community band does, of course, have its critics, with classical musicians often looking down their noses at local brass bands. Santy says this attitude is misplaced: "High-brow music-lovers forget that almost all professional musicians active in Flanders today have come out of the community band environment. Dirk Brossé, for example, one of Flanders' best-known classical composers and conductors, started his musical education in his local band."

Community bands also provide excellent springboards for home-grown composers. Many, such as Jan Van der Roost and Kevin Houben, have gone on to international fame after composing pieces for Flemish bands.

The bands themselves also enjoy excellent reputations abroad. Wind bands from Harelbeke and Beveren-Leie have been crowned world champions in their divisions. When the Willebroek Brass Band won the European Brass Band Championships, it became the first band to do so under a continental conductor, in a competition heavily dominated by brass bands from the UK.

The internal and provincial competitions organised by Vlamo are a key element in ensuring international success. Vlamo also organises international competitions, including the 2009 European Brass Band Championships in Ostend.
Flanders' excellence in the amateur music scene is illustrated by the fact that Vlamo has been asked to form its own symphonic wind band to play as guest orchestra during the Certamen Internacional de Bandas de Musica in Valencia, Spain this summer. Last year this renowned competition for wind orchestras attracted 26 bands from across Europe. As guest orchestra, the Vlamo symphonic wind band will give a 35-minute recital that will be broadcast live on Spanish radio. The band will give further concerts in music halls throughout Valencia and will use these opportunities to highlight the repertoire of Flemish composers.

As part of its education mission, Vlamo also partners with the Field Band Foundation of South Africa, an innovative and imaginative organisation focusing on youth development through music and dance. "The Field Band Foundation helps youngsters from South African townships to achieve a better life thanks to music," says Santy. Vlamo experts have held workshops in South Africa, and the National Field Band has visited Flanders. "It's wonderful to see how our community bands can transform lives, both in Flanders and elsewhere."

online
www.vlamo.be

Get on the bandwagon
With more than 1,800 bands to choose from, you'll find a concert any night

• Tongeren The title of the oldest community band in Flanders goes to the Koninklijke Muziekmaatschappij Casino Tongeren, which was formed in 1750. Its first members were musicians from the collegiate church, drama society and archery club. The Tongeren music school was established in 1859 and, to mark its 150th anniversary, the community band is giving a concert on 18 May in the Casino Theatre.

www.casino-tongeren.be

• Roeselare This West Flanders town is a good example of verzuiling. The Koninklijke Stadsharmonie Roeselare was formed by the liberal party and gives its spring concert on 9 May. The Koninklijke Harmonie Het Gildemuziek Roeselare, meanwhile, was established by the Christian labour movement ACW. It gives its spring concert on 26 April.

www.roeselare.be, www.gildemuziek.be

• Willebroek The Willebroek Brass Band, winners of the 2006 and 2007 European Brass Band Championships, will perform in Hamme on 21 February. If you can’t make it, you might like to listen to their CD Elgar Variations, which BBC Radio 2 selected as the Brass Band Album of the Year. www.brassbandwillebroek.be
• Harelbeke The prize-winning Royal Symphonic Band Vooruit is giving a dual concert on 11 April with the Harmonie Sainte-Cécile Eijsden from the Netherlands at Het Spoor Cultural Centre. www.vooruit.net

• European Brass Band Championships The organisation of these championships is similar to football's Champions League. Every country holds its own national championships for brass bands, then each national champion is sent to compete in the European Brass Band Championships, organised in Flanders. The contest this year closes with a gala concert by the European Youth Brass Band, the Belgian Brass Ensemble and, last year's winner, the Cory Band from Wales. It all happens from 30 April to 2 May in the Ostend casino. Tickets are available from www.vlamo.be