BAND, in architecture, any flat fascia or ornament which is continued horizontally along a wall, or by which a building is encircled. Bands often consist of foliage, quatrefoils or of simple bricks. Band of a shaft is the mold ing or suits of moldings by which the pillars and shafts are encircled in Gothic architecture. Several bands are often placed at equal dis tances on the body of the shaft, when it is long, in which case they are known as shaft-rings.
As vestment, bands are linen pendants from the neck, forming part of clerical, legal and academic costume. It is a moot question whether they are a survival of the amice or immediate descendants of the wide falling col lar which was a part of the ordinary civilian dress in the reign of James I. In the Angli can Church they are seldom worn, except by ultra-low churchmen, but they are in common use with Presbyterian ministers (ordained ministers as distinguished from licentiates). Foreign Catholic ecclesiastics wear black bands with a narrow white border.
in music, a number of trained musicians in a regiment, intended to march in front of thc soldiers and play instruments, so as to en able them to keep step as they move forward; also any similarly organized company of musi cians, though unconnected with the army; an orchestra. The word is also applied to the subdivisions of an orchestra, as string-band, wind-band, etc. Until the 12th century there was no regular organization of the wandering or roving musicians, but early in the 13th cen tury bands of pipers and trumpeters were formed, and later guilds were developed for the protection of the musicians. These guilds
were subjected to and influenced by the peculiar restrictions defining the social status of every calling during the Middle Ages. It was not until the 18th century, however, that instrumental music had developed into the groups we know to-day. The full orchestra, combining every element and vehicle of musi cal exprescion, appealed to those of cultured mucical taste; the brass band was suited to church and community music; and the military band appealed to the people at large. See BAND, MILITARY.
The modem so-called concert military band is a development of the brass band, giving special prominence to the wind-band. In many band compositions the strings are not used at all, the wind instruments being depended on for the interpretation of the piece. In order to secure the desired tone and color, new in struments have been invented and introduced. The concert military band has reached its greatest development in the United States, where it appears to have evolved from the In dependence Day concerts held annually on Bos ton Common. These celebrations brought into prominence as a bandmaster Patrick Sarsfield Gihnore. The concert type has been further developed since his time by D. W. Reeves, Victor Herbert and John Philip Sousa. Sousa's organization is regarded as the highest type of concert military band. Its members are very carefully selected. It is modeled on the celebrated band of the French Garde Republicaine.