CFAMH750 – Richard Thompson 1

Community Context Paper 4: Ecology

For this week’s community context paper, I have chosen to examine the

ecosystem surrounding my experiences as a musician in a wedding band in the New

England region of the United States. As a musical practice, wedding music in New

England is varied across genres, with a focus on American popular music. Genres

include rock, hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul, R&B, and classical, with occasional selections

outside those genres. Using the framework provided by Schippers in Sustainable

Futures, I will highlight potential issues of sustainability in this community. This

framework includes five domains of music sustainability: systems of learning music,

musicians and communities, contexts and constructs, infrastructure and regulations,

and media and the music industry.1

According to Schippers, the systems of learning music domain “assesses the

transmission processes that are central to the sustainability of most music

cultures.”2 As it pertains to the practice of New England wedding band music, there

are no formal training programs specifically for wedding band musicians, and formal

training is not a requirement for participation. However, numerous universities and

music schools such as Berklee College of Music offer music programs aimed at

training musicians for performing contemporary music. Much like opera singers,

there is no shortage of performers graduating from these programs. 3 Alternatively,

1
Huib Schippers, “Sound Futures: Exploring the Ecology of Music Sustainability,” in
Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Perspective, eds. Huib Schippers
and Catherine Grant (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 11.
2
Schippers, Sustainable Futures, 12.
3
John Drummond, “Western Opera: The Price of Prestige in a Globalized ‘Total
Theater’ Experience,” in Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological
Perspective, eds. Huib Schippers and Catherine Grant (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2016), 187.
CFAMH750 – Richard Thompson 2

informal training in varied styles of contemporary popular music has provided

numerous musicians with a pathway to performing professionally at weddings. For

example, the band I perform with – the Boston Common Band – is a mixture of

professionally and informally trained musicians. With opportunities for both

professionally and informally trained musicians, sustainability in this domain is not

an issue.

Schippers’ second domain, musicians and communities, “examines the

positions, roles, and interactions of musicians within their communities and the

social basis of their traditions in that context.” 4 One of the most important issues for

sustainability in this domain is the ability of a musician to make a living. New

England wedding band musicians are well compensated, earning anywhere from a

few hundred to upwards of a thousand dollars per wedding. This can be enough to

sustain a musician’s career and livelihood when performances of original music do

not pay the bills. In contrast to the positive financial incentives however, performing

covers of popular music can be unfilfilling artistically, causing some musicians

existential despair and unhappiness.

Contexts and constructs, the third domain in Schippers’ ecological framework,

concerns “the social and cultural contexts of musical traditions.” 5 In this domain, it

is important to consider how wedding bands are viewed by society. On one hand,

the cost of a wedding band is somewhat prohibitive due to its higher expense

compared to cheaper musical options such as hiring a DJ, or playing music from an

iPod. On the other hand, the excitement generated by a wedding band’s live
4
Schippers, Sustainable Futures, 12-13.
5
Schippers, Sustainable Futures, 12-13.
CFAMH750 – Richard Thompson 3

performance can bring enhanced enjoyment and prestige to a wedding and to its

hosts. As a wedding guest remarked to me the other night, “You can really notice the

difference when the band stops playing and the DJ comes on. It’s just not the same.” 6

While the additional expense of hiring a band could pose an issue to sustainability,

the expense is often outweighed by the benefits.

Schippers’ fourth domain, regulations and infrastructure, refers to the

physical locations, equipment and tangible resources required by the practice, as

well as any governmental regulations that may have an impact on the culture. 7 In

this domain, sustainability is not an issue. Numerous venues exist throughout New

England specifically for wedding receptions, and should those be prohibitively

expensive, couples can host anywhere there is space, including personal homes or

backyards. Sound equipment is necessary, including amps and a PA system, but

those are factored into the cost of a performance. Copyright laws are not a problem,

as live performance licenses are paid for by the venues if necessary. Sound

restrictions are the only possible issue in this domain, with curfews and noise limits

being the most common. These restrictions can be easily dealt with, however, by

performing earlier in the case of a curfew, or turning down the volume of the

equipment if there is a noise limit.

Finally, the media and the music industry domain has a significant effect on

the wedding band practice in a couple of different ways. First, as performers of

popular music, wedding bands must be cognizant of the music that the industry has

popularized, and work within that repertoire, even if the members do not
6
Personal communication, June 9, 2018
7
Schippers, Sustainable Futures, 12-13.
CFAMH750 – Richard Thompson 4

particularly enjoy the music. As discussed earlier, this can impact the psyche of

certain musicians, and it can also affect the performance. With newer popular styles

of music using increasing amounts of electronic instruments, some songs can be

difficult to perform live. New technology and media, however, have benefitted the

wedding band practice immensely, allowing bands to market themselves directly to

customers. By uploading performance videos to YouTube and social media sites

such as Facebook and Instagram, bands can bypass the traditional talent agency

gatekeepers of the past.

Bibliography
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Drummond, John. “Western Opera: The Price of Prestige in a Globalized ‘Total

Theater’ Experience.” In Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological
Perspective, edited by Huib Schippers and Catherine Grant, 1-18. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2016.

Schippers, Huib. "Sound Futures: Exploring the Ecology of Music Sustainability."

In Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Perspective, edited by
Huib Schippers and Catherine Grant, 1-18. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2016.