The Festive Fun We Know as Brass Banders at Christmas

The Christmas season is upon us once more - how did that happen? Doesn’t feel that long ago since I was last playing Jingle Bells, but there we are. When talking to non-bandy folk around this time of year, I always hear this phrase at least once: 

‘oooo there’s nothing like a brass band at Christmas, is there?’. 

And I agree with them - although, I will add that brass bands are for life, not just for Christmas. If you are a fan of brass bands at Christmas, come and see us during the year too, you never know - you might like us just as much then!

Speaking as a bander, we don’t need a calendar to tell us it’s Christmas  - we know the signs all too well.

1) Throwing your social calendar out of the window

As we know, banding is more than a hobby - it is a way of life, given how much of our time it takes up. However, when it comes to the month of December, our friends and relatives know that there isn’t much point asking if we’re free - particularly on a weekend. From carolling in the community to festive concerts - banding becomes your social life more than normal. It’s a time where we give thanks that everyone in the band gets along - if not, it’s going to be a very long month!

2) Festive Fundraising

Freezing your knackers off in a supermarket foyer, gathering around for a Christmas tree switch-on, church carol services or if you’re lucky, sometimes the local pub wants a carol or two to get people in the festive mood. It’s the one time of year t people can’t get enough of us! And it’s a good thing too, because banding isn’t cheap and it’s only getting more and more expensive. So, whilst the public get to enjoy our fantastic music, Christmas time is a vital fundraising opportunity for us - win, win. Well, except for the fact that more often than not we’re outside…and it’s cold. But hey, if it keeps the lights on in the bandroom, it’s worth it. 

3) Surprise Sightreading

In the (almost) 22 years I’ve been in banding, no matter what standard of band I’ve been in, there’s always that moment when you’re carolling and someone suggests some obscure carol in the book that no one else has ever heard of. Usually, it’s not even a passing member of the public, it’ll be one of us that suggests it.

The issue with that?

Whilst we’ve been blasting Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, Rudolph and all the other classics with confidence and, sometimes, even a sprinkling of style - people come over for a listen, children stop their parents and have a little sing-song or a dance, the sweet chime of pound coins can be heard as they hit the bottom of the bucket. Marvellous.

We then sightread something that hasn’t been popular since Charles Dickens’ day or one of the longer, more fruitier arrangements at the back of the book that we seldom play and suddenly we’ve got missing notes, wrong notes, people dropping off, people coming in wrong, people getting the giggles (usually me). What happens then? People walk past - best case scenario: without a second glance, worst case scenario: with a raised eyebrow or a shake of the head. Children don’t look up from their iPhones as they trail behind their parents. The jingle-jangle of change being thrown into the bucket ceases. Then we all vow never to play it again and go back to O Little Town of Bethlehem and the other ‘ol reliables.

4) Not all versions of Jingle Bells are created equal

Now, there are a fair few arrangements of this well known Christmas tune for brass band, but most of us will know these two main versions. The ‘concert’ version arranged by Derek Ashmore, which is basically the festive version of the floral dance and the carol book version, which is one of the few pieces where I actively do not want to play the tune - I want to play the jaunty little countermelody that the backrow cornet and flugel part gets. You know the part. You’re singing it in your head - I know it. 

As much as I do like the cheese-fest that is the Derek Ashmore arrangement - the carol book version is my favourite and will always be superior in my eyes.

5) Raffles

We do love a raffle in the brass band world. However, they’re especially useful at Christmas time when you’ve got a calendar full of Christmas gigs with a raffle in the interval - there’s at least one every week!

"Why?", I hear you ask.

Well, dear reader, if you think about it - you have your yearly clear out before you put up the Christmas decs and you look in the ‘crap cupboard’ (you know, the one where all the random crap in your house retires to) and suddenly it becomes a treasure trove of potential raffle prizes. That bottle of shower gel Great Auntie Betty bought you in 2009 = raffle prize. The novelty mug that is supposed to change colour when its hot (but never does) that Bob from Accounts got you for secret santa = raffle prize. That vibrant bath bomb set you bought from B&M Bargains, but are now mildly scared to put in the tub because you know it’s going to cause havoc with your (both household and biological) plumbing = RAFFLE PRIZE - let someone else take the risk! 

In addition, if you’re short of a few gifts this Christmas for acquaintances or people you’re not that fond of - go to a few brass band concerts over Christmas and grab a raffle ticket. You’re helping the band out and sorting that present for that neighbour you never really speak to, but have an unwritten agreement to take each other’s bins out when you’re on holiday…who will probably put it in a cupboard…and take it to a raffle next year - but hey, recycling is good for the planet!

6) Carpool Karaoke - Banding Style

Is it just me or when you hear a song on the radio that you’ve played a brass band arrangement of, do you sing your own part to it?

If you’re like me, it gets worse at Christmas doesn’t it? I feel like there isn’t a song on my Christmas Spotify playlist that I haven’t played an arrangement of. It got to the point the other day, as I was driving home from my first carol gig of the season that I was trying to both sing the words and my part to White Christmas at the same time. Thankfully, I was in the car alone - if anyone had witnessed it, they would have thought I was having some kind of episode - unless they were a bander then they would have joined in with their own part!

7) There is literally no escape

Now, it does warm my heart to hear a brass band when I’m out and about doing ‘non-bandy’ things normally. However, when you have one evening or (if you are extremely lucky) a Saturday/Sunday off playing and are out catching up on your Christmas shopping - and you hear it. The brassy melody of Joy to the World, starts up somewhere and it feels like the festive equivalent of Groundhog Day. 

It’s nothing personal. We all know I love bands more than anything in the world and I’ll always chuck some money in the bucket as I go, but there’s just only so many times I can hear Joy to the World in a week before it no longer brings me joy and instead I end up developing a twitch.

8) The band group chat becomes a festive nightmare

The once fun, banter-filled banding group chat becomes a festive forum of questions:

• “What time do we need to be at Tesco?”

• “Are we wearing Christmas jumpers or band uniform?”

• “Is a can of baked beans an acceptable raffle prize?”

• “Who’s got the spare carol books?”

• “Has anybody seen my Santa hat?”

• “Can somebody swap their carolling slot with me on Saturday morning ? My work Christmas Do is on the Friday”

9) The Regional Test Piece Looms

Just as you think you can see the twinkling fairy light at the end of the tinsel-lined tunnel that is the banding Christmas season - your conductor says three little words that send a shudder down your spine -The Area Piece. You know that faster than you can say ‘Father Christmas’, you’ll be marking your calendar for sectionals and all-week rehearsals in preparation for the 2026 Regional Brass Band Championships. You start to sweat . You wrap tinsel around your head and stick your fingers in your ears whilst yelling "fa la la la la faaaaarrrr too early!!!” 

For some bands you might even get a run through of the test piece as a ‘palate cleanser’ between the Crimbo programmes - now, aren’t you lucky?! 

This is coming from the geek who has already taken her part home with her - are we really surprised?

10) Somehow you make it through the Christmas Chaos together

The upside to spending so much time with your band is that it brings you closer. New in-jokes and stories that will be brought up again and again will be created when somebody inevitably does something daft at a concert or whilst out carolling. You’ll share a laugh, even though your nose is redder (and snottier) than Rudolph’s, your teeth are chattering and you haven’t been able to feel your fingertips for days. Some little one will request or hear you play Jingle Bells or Rudolph and come running over - and for those 2 mins you’ll be the coolest thing they’ve seen that day. 

And even though, by the time you get to the big day, you feel like you’re crawling to the finish line, the many renditions of Jingle Bells has turned into tinnitus and you’re not sure if that is a bruise on your toe or frostbite - deep down…(some deeper down than others) you wouldn’t change it. Being a part of a brass band is special, but there is something even more special about being in a brass band at Christmas.

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