…is the Australian Defence Force, according to some figuring by Brian Toohey in the Fin Review today (so, unfortunately, no link).
Toohey estimates that the costs of the Army and Navy’s bands come to around $50 million per year. By contrast, he estimates that The Australia Council provides $44.2 million to symphony orchestras, and another $5 million to other types of music including popular, folk, jazz, classical, electronic and indigenous compositions. He’s presumably not counting opera and ballet funding in those numbers, but, still, it’s a pretty astonishing statistic in the light of the occasional establishment-vs-the-rest arts funding arguments that have appeared on LP and elsewhere. Not to mention the question of whether Defence spends its money wisely.
Is $50 million a year for this kitsch (however skilfully it might be performed) good value?
LOL. Great post.
Them Bandies’ primary role is meant to be as stretcher bearers, medics etc.
OBR: if you want stretcher bearers and medics, there are a hell of a lot cheaper ways to get them than have them do double duty as the world’s most elaborate covers band.
And they’re probably not as good as this band.
While we are on the subject, how much is spent on police bands? (8 states and territory bands has to add up to a lot.) I heard one of them recently. The Daly Wilson big band they were not.
Having a standing army is just welfare. Where’s the Libnat outcry?
I wouldn’t be surprised if this fairly common around the world. I remember reading years ago that the US Army was America’s* biggest Arts Body – not just for their marching bands, but also for their provision of troops and vehicles to Hollywood for approved films.
*And presumably the world’s.
GregA – I invite you to the Seargents’ Mess at Campbell Barracks, Swanbourne to express your sentiment.
Regards
Heh. I know a guy who plays for the Air Force. He gets flown everywhere for various performances every time there’s a significant date, visiting dignitary or whatever. The family lives in AF-subsidised, better-quality housing in a “nice” suburb. There is no way he engages in any stretcher-bearing or paramedical activity – at least I’ve never heard him mention such a thing. It’s a pretty sweet life, although he does get a bit soul destroyed with all the, as you put it, kitsch.
I’m surprised it’s $50m but only a little. Military Bands have always been a big deal and I suspect they employ more musicians than the State Orchestras. There’s a full-time Army band in every state, two full time Navy bands, a full time Air Force band and about 10 part-time (reserve) bands.
And they’re not meant to be medic and stretcher bearers. They’re meant to be musicians for ceremonies and esprit de corp.
A waste of money? Maybe, but given the choice I’d ditch the Institute of Sport long before any reduction in employment opportunities for musicians.
d
This is not surprising. In addition, The biggest and best-funded school of languages in the country is in the ADF (runner-up is DFAT)!!
I did think about joining up for this very reason. Them boys get treated so good. Foods great too I gather… Oh well
The ADF is also the largest occupational trainer in Australia.
The reason we have the regional Bands is because Unit Bands got nixed by the Bean Counters. Once the Bandies are removed from the unit then their Unit level battlefield role no longer exists. So, no the Bandies these days don’t do the stretcher bearer/medic thing anymore.
All part of the hollowing out of the ADF fighting units.
Since the defence forces generate so much misery as a by-product, surely it’s a good thing if they generate some musical talent and language learning along the way?
Yes, the gaily skipping soldiers were a treat. Bit disappointed that with all those covers they couldn’t find time for I am Woman.
OBR@12 “The reason we have the regional Bands is because Unit Bands got nixed by the Bean Counters. Once the Bandies are removed from the unit then their Unit level battlefield role no longer exists. ”
That happened in 1949 with de-mob after WW2 & the establishment of the Regular Army and the Area Command Bands. A better outcome for everyone, I suggest.
d
Not enough Pipes an Drums these days.
Much better to swagger along to.
Excellent that the ADF supports music. Mindful of how close I came to bein’ sent to gaol or Vietnam I have encouraged my son to play the trombone. And he does, superbly, which means that if he has to make a choice between playing at ceremonies for Brass or having his reproductives reduced to mush in the name of the national Interest he’ll be in a position to make a good choice.
Nup. Just put it forward as a data-point, is all.
Here’s the editorial:
When the biggest and best-funded musical outfit, language-teacher, occupational trainer (and sexual harrasser??) in your nation is the provisioners of the defence forces, well that tells you a lot about the place, dunnit?
The biggest and best language school in the country should be a university or school system, shouldn’t it??
The biggest and best musical outfit should be an arts-focused public or commercial promoter, shouldn’t it?
And the biggest occupational trainer should be TAFE, shouldn’t it??
Look, if we’re gonna have a standing army where we’re asking people to put their lives on the line, I would say it’s an ethical imperative to ensure they are lavishly resourced: but then again, the same ethic should apply to the people we’re asking to drive the ambulances, tend the hospital beds, intervene in the 2am domestic violence call-outs, educate our children, etc. etc…
…shouldn’t it?
Your karma for this is…your son will play the trombone.
At least it’s not banjo, Mercurius, or … piano accordion.
(Disclaimer: I actually quite like both these instruments.)
When I went down to Melbourne for the Climate Action Summit in April I billeted with a guy who played clarinet for the navy and a very nice chap he was too.
While this post was just an observation, not a thesis.
If you wanted to spend 50 million dollars to a) provide entertainment to visiting dignitaries, and b) develop Australian music, funding standing army, navy, and air force bands would hardly seem the best way to do it.
Mercurius: it could’ve been worse…the tuba.
David Irving: A banjo player, on his way to a gig, parked his car while he went to a shop for a minor purchase on the way. He noted the signs saying “Warning, High Crime Area, Do Not Leave car Unlocked” but, looking at his banjo case on the back seat thought it’d be ok. On return to his vehicle, sure enough, there were another three banjos on the back seat.
Whimsical note: The composition of the initial frame of the video at the top makes it appear at first glance that the man with the hat on the left is in fact some sort of human-alpaca hybrid.
I auditioned for an ADF band around 1993. I was advised at the time that, if selected, I could (in theory if not in likelihood) be called upon for paramedic duties in combat situations.
What’s the difference between a banjo and a trampoline? You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline.
@13
“The ADF is also the largest occupational trainer in Australia”
Yes, just like days of yore when unions in govt. workshopd used to insist that training be provided so trade skills could be maintained. Of course free marketeers such as yourself found this to be terribly inefficient, privatisation was the answer. So what about opening up the ADF to some competition and lets start with bands, plenty of musos short of quid, work for peanuts and live in a cardboard box.
And then we can set about having a look at those highly protected types down at Campbell barracks. I reckon I could get a platoon of high (perhaps chemically) motivated, steroidal nightclub bouncers to do pretty much the same job for half the price. What about it OBR, are you in?
Patrickb don’t be a spoilsport. It’s just so Australian to see our defence personnel doing Kylie numbers and using the national flag as wobble boards. Can you imagine any other country’s defence force doing that?
dear editor
what an annoying vague half-bake of an article by brian toohey. and to think i hastened to reception to read it.
first, is it $50 million (aspi figure) or $19.7 million (defence figure)? toohey gives no good reason for preferring the aspi figure over the military’s figure, a figure for which he cites the military’s rationale (2/5 of total spent on music making, 3/5 on “soldiering”). toohey, declaring the two figures “do not gel”, proceeds to prefer the aspi figure without rationale.
more toohey furphies follow finishing with a finale in a foreign key gratuitously tacked on at the end.
gosh, he says, the military maintains a music teaching system that’s separate from the civilian system! well blow me over! yes. and they teach a specialist repertoire. to wind players. who are military personnel. the military is not “poaching” wind students, or teaching resources, from civilian conservatories. civilian conservatories are not languishing for want of wind instrument students.
toohey misleadingly compares personnel numbers in orchestras with personnel numbers in military bands to no clear end. he acknowledges that orchestras receive funding from other sources & then ignores this totally when proceeding to compare how much the ac grants 6 australian orchestras vs how much the military spends on its bands. 691 orchestral musicians vs 622 military musicians & “for [a] lighter repertoire”, as he insultingly has it. it would seem mr toohey has not played, say, the french horn. or the trombone. or heard many polished military bands strut their stuff in the field. or play in a concert setting. or at dances. or as wind quintets in a church hall, like the one in macquarie street sydney where i heard the navy band’s wind quintet play hindemith & poulenc for crissake.
mr toohey writes that against the military’s expenditure “the ac spends $5 million on music broadly similar to that performed by the military bands, including popular, folk, jazz, classical, electronic and indigenous compositions.” these categories of music making are in no way similar to military bands & unless he meant to write “in addition to” where he wrote “including”, this sentence is nonsense.
and there’s a heritage building involved too! (wtf?). well, i’m pleased the services settled for one between ‘em. victoria barracks, anyone? sydney conservatorium?
and his finale in a foreign key: (omg) the military spends more than the ac on “non-fiction writing & publishing”. give me a break! not that it has anything to do with music, but i’m glad they spend as much as they think is necessary. these are technical writers they are commissioning. to write manuals for the sophisticated high-tech systems the military deploys. as seen on tv. the military is not giving grants for literary or philosophical essays here. there is no basis for this comparison. and its out of place in an article comparing what military & civilian state bodies spend on music.
whilst managing to ring in this irrelevancy, toohey says nothing about the distinct likelihood the navy will outspend the ac on support for translation, too, next budget. look here:-
http://www.theage.com.au/national/navy-at-sea-over-french-manual-20110825-1jcjo.html
this was not mentioned in the aspi report he just finished reading, i ‘spose.
the whole article is a mish-mash, a vague farrago of insinuations leading nowhere. its a disgrace – the underfunded ac deserves better.
yours sincerely
alfred venison
p.s. – i write this listening to gustav holst’s “hammersmith suite” played by an outfit called the raf central band. its folk music. -a.v.
declaration of interest: i played trombone for a year, french horn for 5 years & bassoon for 2 years during high school & after, in a wind band & various “sub-ensembles” of interested class mates/band members in school & extracurricular music making. we didn’t march. i continue passionate about music of all sorts, including music for brass band, wind ensemble, whatever. military & civilian. domestic & foreign. contemporary & classical. -a.v.
Them Bandies’ primary role is meant to be as stretcher bearers, medics etc.
…the Bandies these days don’t do the stretcher bearer/medic thing anymore.
The ADF is also the largest occupational trainer in Australia.
OBR can play the bully on the seargents behalf all he wants, a standing army serves society only as a hidden form of welfare.
Thanks Eric Sykes for the first belly laugh of the day.
Robert @23:
Indeed. “Colonel Bogey” doesn’t usually feature on lists of the best Australian songs of all time.
Rather than complain that the military is funding the arts, shouldn’t we be looking for ways to bring more disciplines under the peaked cap? Most of the higher mathematics field in the US is Defence-(ha)-oriented; here, not so much. Now might be a good time for some massive subsidies to women’s studies, too. And then there are those Charlie Stross novels where the heroine is a specialist in epistemological warfare….
What calendar does a trombonist use to keep track of their gigs?
Year-at-a-glance.
dear Mercurius
What kind of calendar does a Viola player use to keep track of his gigs?
Decade-at-a-Glance.
http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/jokes/viola.html
and
http://www.petelevin.com/violajokes.htm
your sincerely
alfred venison
Chris, I have no desire whatsoever to send more scarce maths and CS postgrads into the maw of the Defence Signals Directorate. We’ve got few enough of them now.