To ask why I felt emotional from brass band outside supermarket?

[brassmonkeybrassband]

Brass band playing outside the supermarket invoked a lump in my throat and feeling a bit emotional.

Why?

Anyone else?

Yep get me every time, especially when they’re playing Christmas Carols. Also Bagpipes are a sure fire way to stop me dead in my tracks!

@RobertSmithsLipstick

You're an empath. Seriously, this time of year is murder for me. Little children singing carols, brass bands. You name it, I cry about it.

Absolutely agree!

I've always felt emotional listening to a brass band. But now even more so. I think they transport us back to happier times. But also in the midst of all the uncertainty life still goes on, and we'll come out the other side.

Brass bands remind me of all the Eleanor Rigbys. Unmarried middle aged women sitting in a park on a Sunday afternoon in 1935 listening to the music and remembering their lost Ernests and Arthurs.

Yes, brass bands always get me - I remember colliery bands and Salvation Army bands. Same for DH (he's from Yorkshire). PIL too.

I once welled up at a ship being launched but also my period was due!

I once heard Alan Bennett on Radio 4 say “If you are from the north of England, listening to a brass band is like stroking your soul”. As a Londoner adopted by Yorkshire, I’d extend that to the S, E, W and everywhere else too.
We live in “Brassed Off” country - we may no longer have any pits, but we still have plenty of brass bands. Love them.
This is so lovely. As is the whole thread. Alan Bennett nails it. I get so irritated they lampoon him on Steve Wright on Radio 2.

Bold fail sorry @IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

Always reminds me of walking round the shops as a kid, weaving through the crowds on the busy high street. There would often be a brass band playing in town. I think it reminds me of a lot of things about Christmas and the world in general that are gone now.

I love a brass band although they don't usually make me cry. Hearing them this year has been more emotional than previously though, possibly because they represent a big part of what my DDs have missed out on thanks to covid. They both play in various brass bands and went from having lots of concerts, residentials and sociable rehearsals with friends to look forward to in February 2020 to quite rapid cancellations of everything. It seems as though anything involving brass players was cancelled far sooner than rehearsals for string players and they were among the last amateur music groups to be allowed to rehearse again. For my eldest, it's meant lots of 'lasts' have been and gone as some of the groups she played with still haven't been able to find a new rehearsal venue willing to host a brass band.

And then of course, there's the Brassed Off factor; who could fail to be moved by the scene of the colliery band playing Danny Boy outside the hospital , the politics of the pit closures and devastation of the community that depended on it? "Not one of them with an ounce of bloody hope left." is the line that gets me because over 25 years later there's still too many people for whom that is true, thanks to the decisions of those who won't be affected by the consequences.

Same here. There was a brass band outside Tesco yesterday (Sunday). Brings back memories of my childhood!

Blimey. I'll cry at anything, from Jenny Agutter's "Daddy, my Daddy!", to Steve Redgrave bringing home a fifth consecutive gold, so I always thought I was pretty emotional. But brass bands? Lord, no. I mean - they reduce me nearly to tears, too, but for radically different reasons. Can't stick 'em.

I have a very vivd memory of being in primary school and listening to someone playing the violin. I couldn't understand why my eyes were wet because there was nothing sad about it. And that started me off crying at really beautiful pieces of music. I am desperate to hear a salvation army band this year but so far unsuccessful. I would be crying toon

Time passed

Yes! This was me on Saturday when the brass band were playing carols outside the local supermarket. It's so bloody beautiful but makes me really teary. I have no idea why.

I’m actually selling up at reading this thread. Bonkers. Tell you what else gets me? Dancing, specifically synchronised dancing. Like a flash mob. It’s weird.

*welling up. Nothing is for sale 🤦🏼‍♀️

The salvation army is very active in our town. I'm a blubbering wreck from December

Everything sets me off, brass bands, soppy adverts, the kids, even having a random conversation about something inane can do it. It drives me mad sometimes but I'm blaming menopause!

Aw the Sally Army band always makes me feel sad/nostalgic

@VanGoghsDog

Yep. Also Little Donkey.

Oh god I love Little Donkey. My favourite school Christmas song. I remember we all had little books at school with wall paper covers that we had to write out all the Christmas songs we were singing in and draw pictures, nearly 40 years ago now. Little Donkey gets me every time (along with brass bands too).

Also just welling up just thinking about it.
I was cleaning the bathroom the other day and I heard brass band music drifting through the window. Dragged DS in as a second pair of ears who confirmed it wasn’t some weird tinnitus effect. Then he looked at me filling up and said “Oh dear, did no one give you an Abide With Me Warning?”

I come from an area with an annual churches parade involving at least 2 local brass bands and pipe band. It invokes feelings of being a child, small, safe and loved.
Have brass band players in my family and I used to play in a wind band. One of our events was going round residential homes in Christmas week, playing carols to the residents. The power of music to lift the soul momentarily is just amazing.

Oh me too!

I can't fully explain what is, but as previous posters have said, it's a mix of childhood memories, the Salvation Army used to come and play on the streets as fundraisers, and also the work they are involved in is very emotive, the sound is such a rich, warm, soothing sound, it harks back to days gone by where Christmas seemed more 'traditiobal' and makes me drift off and forget modern worries for a moment.

For me there is something deeply nostalgic about the sound of a brass band.

Brass bands remind me of all the Eleanor Rigbys. Unmarried middle aged women sitting in a park on a Sunday afternoon in 1935 listening to the music and remembering their lost Ernests and Arthurs.

Jesus nearly made it through the thread until this. Such a sad image.

A brass band playing ‘Oh holy night’ or young children singing Away in a Manger and I’m away. Oh and Last Christmas..poor George.