Military band
Military bands comprise both woodwind, and brass instruments with percussion, compared to brass bands, which do not include woodwinds. The development of the brass band is vastly different from that of the military band. Owing to the enormous popularity of military bands since the days of Queen Victoria, especially outdoors, where the general public could experience free of charge, concert performances of music which they would likely never otherwise encounter, combined with the more popular melodies of the day, composers have continued to write for the military band instrumentation, which has long since become standardized. There is no requirement for the musicians who perform military band music to themselves be uniformed members of the armed forces. An important musical development which is also derived directly from the military band, is the 'symphonic wind ensemble' (also known in the United States, as the 'concert band') which includes wind instruments not associated with marching bands (such as bass clarinet, contrabassoon, harp, and double bass), and which is modelled on the standard symphony orchestra, but without conventional stringed instruments. Both 'military band' and 'symphonic wind band' describe current ensembles which may be found throughout the world. In some American high schools, both ensembles might exist, together with both the traditional symphony orchestra, and the big [dance] band.