Most frequently asked questions

Click on a question to read the answer. Clicking on "FAQ introduction" in the left hand menu will take you back to this list of "Most frequently asked questions"

• Do the more than 180 orchestra members live in De Bruggen?
  
  
• How does the repertoire come about?
  
  
• How many band members play at the concerts?
  
  
• Why don't all band members play at the concerts?
  
  
• Where and when are the concerts and how can you get a ticket?
  
  
• Is attention paid to personal musical development?
  
  
• Does such a large orchestra of more than 180 members offer sufficient opportunities to the individual members?
  
  
• What is the origin of the name Jostiband?
  
  
• When was the orchestra founded?
  
  
• Who decides which instrument will be played?
  
  
• Are there any other orchestras/groups consisting of mentally handicapped people?
  
  
• Where does the Jostiband Orchestra find its financial funds?
  
  
• Why is coloured notation used?
  
  
• Who makes use of the coloured notation?
  
  
• How can you order CDs, etc.?

If you would like more information, please contact the Jostiband Orchestra. The secretariat can generally be reached from 1.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. on Wednesdays. The telephone number is 00 31 17 264 2381 and the fax number is 00 31 17 264 2203 or mail us at info@jostiband.nl.

How is the repertoire created?

On the one hand, by listening to the personal (free) input by participants. On the other hand, by discovering and using the existing talent of all band members together. The band leaders' task is to guide the orchestra, and to give priority to the choices of the band members.

The Josti Band Orchestra gives a concert once a month with 100 musicians. All concerts have already been booked for the first 14 months. The Josti Band Orchestra offers an easygoing and pleasurable music program of 2 45-minute segments with an intermission. The program is suitable for young and old and is a full afternoon's or evening's entertainment.

• Care and guidance require quality. Travelling with a group of more than 180 band members would reduce that quality.
• In general, these organisations cannot afford such travelling and subsistence expenses.
• There are very few venues where more than 100 musicians can play.

In addition to weekly rehearsals on Wednesday evenings, orchestra members attend private music lessons on Saturday mornings.

Does such a large orchestra of more than 180 members offer sufficient opportunities to the individual members?

Some passages from the book 'The Secret of the Jostiband Orchestra':

Saturday's rehearsal programme

Once every two months each band member receives personal attention during a meeting of 8 to 10 persons, the Saturday morning club. The band leaders want to know what the members' level really is, and at the same time, the musicians like receiving special attention.

They try their best when they are asked to play solo, and blow, strike their keys, or drum along with concentration when their command is tested during an ensemble.

Assessment and presence are recorded on cards, and the information is then entered into a computer system. In this way, all progress is registered.

Not only does the computer keep records, the musicians themselves also monitor their achievements. If they make good progress, they gain points, and at one hundred points, they receive a present: a mouth organ, a ball-point pen or a radio alarm clock - whatever is in the basket of presents.
In addition to playing music, the band members also receive practical lessons. For instance, when all of the plugs have been removed from the keyboards.
Right, everyone turn on your organ.
It doesn't work!
How do you know?
The lights are off.
The lights are off? What's the matter? Now where does the organ get its light from?
From the plug.
Faces full of surprise when they see the plug lying on the floor unplugged.
Aha. Triumph.

The band member him/herself. The following passages from the book 'The Secret of the Jostiband Orchestra' illustrates the fact that guidance is necessary:

Observation

During his image registration training, Brussen learned how to observe his surroundings, and in his capacity as a conductor/band leader of the Jostis, he still profits from that training.

Watch carefully how a newcomer reacts when he first holds the instruments. Lyan, too, has developed an eye for it during her remedial education studies.

Most of them are not able to just say: I want to play the drums. The only thing we really know is that this person is interested in playing music. That is why we watch closely how the would-be musician reacts to the different instruments and thus expresses his/her choice.

Observation is also required for who sits where in the rehearsal room. Everyone has his/her fixed place, but sometimes things suddenly go wrong between two colleagues. If the person concerned functions at a high level, it is possible to talk with him/her about such problems. But if no verbal expression are possible, it is a matter of observig very closely.

The allocation of places is a delicate issue, for that matter. Every week there is at least one request for another neighbour

He smells bad.
He's always spitting.
She snorts.
But only very serious complaints will lead to any seating rearrangements.
And public complaints - they are out of the question.

The range of instruments comprises almost 70 keyboards, accordions, an electric accordion, pianos, electric organs, marimbas, metallophone, crotales, xylophone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, carillon, violin, double bass and a wide diversity of percussion instruments. This last includes 3 complete drum kits, 2 kettledrums, congas, bongos, snare drums, steel drums and cymbals.
Many members also have suitcases filled with triangles, tambourines, various bells, castanets, maracas, and other instruments for producing sound effects. 

Are there any other orchestras/groups consisting of mentally handicapped people?

Where does the Jostiband Orchestra find its financial funds?

From:

• support from the De Bruggen institution for housing and personnel salaries;
• the support fund, with contributions from benefactors;
• selling sound recordings, etc. and concert revenues. Jostiband products are available in the Josti Shop.
• gifts and specific legacies.

200 mentally handicapped musicians play in the Jostiband Orchestra. More than 100 of these members live within the various care units at De Bruggen , a foundation in Zwammerdam giving care, treatment and support to people with a mental handicap. The remaining members of the orchestra live with their parents or in surrogate family homes and social housing units in the Province of South Holland. The conductor is Lyan Verburg.

The name "Jostiband Orchestra"

The name Jostiband is derived from the first two letters and the first three letters respectively of the name Johannes Stichting. This was the name of a former residence for the mentally handicapped in Nieuwveen, and it was here that the Josti-Band was founded in September 1966.
In 1974 the residents moved from this accommodation to a new, more modern facility in Zwammerdam. The expansion of the Jostiband from 35 musicians in 1966 to 200 members in 1996 led to the name being changed to JOSTIBAND ORCHESTRA.

Music notation

The orchestra uses a system of musical notation based on colour. This notation was developed by the conductors and can also be used very effectively by others.
The music notation is available to everyone at cost price. Besides 3 bundles, each with around 30 titles, there is great demand for the starter set with 8 pieces of music to begin with. Through the use of colour coded stickers one can encode almost any (self composed) piece of music. A clear solution has also been found for the encoding of sharps and flats.
More than 1000 orchestras, institutes, schools, schools of music and private teachers and pupils use this notation system. The information pamphlet "THE SOUND OF COLOUR", which can be sent to you upon request, explains all about the notation system in twelve chapters.

CDs, cassettes and videos
The orchestra owes its fame and popularity partly to the numerous television appearances and concerts at home and abroad. In the meantime they made international fame. The amount of success we owe to the members of the orchestra.
Nevertheless, the cassettes, CDs and video tapes produced by the orchestra have had their own impact. Information regarding recordings is available in the Jostishop.