Wonderbrass and collective joy – what’s it all about?
Rewind to summer 2020. It’s abundantly clear that coronavirus isn’t going anywhere. Sond we decide to start rehearsing on Zoom – that word which was once onomatopoeic for something going past really fast and in a matter of weeks had become the go-to video conferencing software (on which we could all pretend we’re not wearing pyjama bottoms in meetings with our bosses).
Zoom is NOTHING like being in the social club where we normally rehearse in Splott, but at least it means we can see each other, even if we can’t hear each other (I mean, we tried, but it was AWFUL, so we kept the mute button on for the most part). We can get our instruments out and have a blow at the same time, even if not in the same place.
It wasn’t for everyone, and we were all over the moon when we finally regrouped in the summer of 2021 to prep for our one gig that summer – the Summer of Smiles in Gorsedd gardens outside Cardiff Museum. It took a while for things to get back to ‘normal’, with semi-regular gigs and very regular rehearsals, and the time in which this was missing was a quieter, less joy-filled time for all of us – it’s true, you really don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…
Wonderbrass at Summer of Smiles (actually this is the rebranded “Summer of Fun” from 2022, but can I find a photo from 2021???)
Fast forward back to the present day, and three of us have been reflecting back on those times, on what we lost by not playing together, and on what we learnt from our time apart, and two years with almost no gigs. We met, we wrote, we laughed, and most importantly we talked over numerous beers (thanks Tiny Rebel!). The result, this paper!
Collective Joy: The Spirituality of the Community Big Band Wonderbrass
The paper took a lot of turns on the way; the initial focus was on how we survived, what our online efforts meant to people, and what we learnt from doing them. But the more we talked (and drank), the more it became clear that what changed during that time was much less important than what has existed for the 32 years Wonderbrass has been around, but had only really bubbled to the surface as a tangible thing through the covid-induced hiatus. Wonderbrass is really good fun – fun in a life-affirming and, dare-we-say, spiritually enriching way. The collective joy we feel in the moments in which we best do what we do best, when we play and dance and create together, that’s what makes all the hard work worth it.
If you want to read more about Doctor Rob’s wonderbrass research, please visit his research webpage here.
