The Triadelphia Brass has consisted, until quite recently, of musicians from the Triadelphia SDA church. Now we are beginning to expand our membership and, I hope, becoming capable of performing, without significant embarrasment, in churches where our members are not already known and loved individually. <grin>
There are two reasons that I feel it would be wise to distance ourselves from association with any particular congregation.
- In the past we have been refused use of GC space for practice purposes because we were associated with one congregation. They wanted to avoid the appearance of favoritism.
- I'm concerned that association with one congregation will dissuade members of other congregations from joining our group.
- The brass group I conducted in Atlanta was and is known as Zephyr Brass. Zephyr is a name for the west wind, which was appropriate because that group originated on the west side of Atlanta. There was talk of extending the Zephyr organization to embrace additional ensembles, potentially including brass ensembles in other cities, so I would feel comfortable using this name, at least on a temporary basis.
- The name Adventist Community Brass was abandonded by David Workman in favor of Washington Community Brass, which has fallen into disuse as that group has remained in hibernation. I think we could lay legitimate claim to ACB if we wanted to.
What do you suggest?
As always, your comments will have a longer shelf-life if you post them directly to the weblog.
Update: Here are the options I have observed so far.
- Triadelphia Brass
- Zephyr Brass
- Adventist Community Brass
- Sounds of Brass
- Triadelphia Regional Brass
- TriBrass
- TriBrass.org (If Amazon.com can do it, I suppose we can too.)
- Maryland Music Brass
- Maryland Chamber Orchestra Brass
7 comments:
I like the name "Adventist Community Brass," but do you think it's too recently used and will remind people of David Workman's group?
To toss another possibility in the mix, my dad grew up with the "Sounds of Brass" group, which I've seen former members use in various locales since. Perhaps he can comment.
You could add somthing like 'Regional' to the name to disassociate it from the congregation without loosing its origin, ie "Triadelphia Regional Brass"
The following comment came from Carol Gore, and she gave me permission to post it here:
When determining a name for an organization/group/ensemble, etc., I believe the "mission statement" of the group needs to be considered. (A "mission statement" needs to be formulated/created if one is nonexistent. See: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.) When a "mission statement" is created, it gives purpose to the group's existence.
So, my suggestions are as follows: Create a "mission statement" first. Then work towards selecting a name for the brass ensemble.
Also, if the group is going to minister to congregations, organizations, social events, etc. in addition to Seventh-Day Adventist entities, it may be wise to avoid using the name "Adventists" in the organizational name of the brass ensemble. More opportunities may open up to the group if there is no reference to one particular religious organization/denomination. By living the lifestyle and selecting music that reflects Seventh-Day Adventist/biblical values, others will know or eventually know that the brass ensemble is composed of Seventh-Day Adventist musicians.
An idea flitted past me a few days ago, with regard to the name for our brass ensemble. I've been calling the group TriBrass for quite some time now. We even own the TriBrass.org domain, although I haven't updated the website in two and a half years.
Would TriBrass be a good name for the group? Would it meet most of the criteria we've discussed so far?
Another option would be to associate with the Maryland Music idea behind this weblog. (See the About box in the upper right-hand corner of the page.) So the brass ensemble could be called the Maryland Music Brass. Or something like that. I already own the MDMusic.org domain.
At the bottom of this post I have added a list of the options discussed so far. I'm pretty sure I heard more options in conversations with you, but I don't remember them. Please send me a note so I can add your suggestions to this list. Thanks!
Maryland Chamber Orchestra was the official name of Joseph Choi's ensemble, and he gave permission to continue to use that name after he moved away. I have been advised that we, the brass ensemble, are welcome to associate ourselves with that orchestra and use the name Maryland Chamber Orchestra Brass.
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