Well, it's a little easier for someone one side of England to get to the other side than it is in the States...

Plus, England (and Europe in general) still has a HUGE following for theater organ music and musicians, and any organ music at all. You can go to many seaside towns in summer, and an organist will still be a featured entertainer. Best of luck finding THAT in the States. (yes I know they exist, but it isn't COMMON...)

Then add in the fact that community music-making (singing in pubs and soccer games, village brass bands, community get-togethers), and ballroom dancing participation is generally at a level rarely seen outside of Wisconsin and the borscht belt....

As a transplant from England to the USA, it often saddens me to see how few pursue any form of music after high school, despite huge resources put into enormous high school marching bands. It would not surprise me to find out that the USA has possibly one of the highest rates of adult non-participation in music, AFTER having been in band at high school.

Personally, I think the ONLY measure of success of a school music program should be how many continue playing music in their adult lives, NOT how good the marching band is, or how well they do at DCI....

This is NOT to say there is NO adult opportunities in America, but as anyone who has been to Britain, or the continent, has seen, if there is over a thousand people (sometimes even less!) in a village, they probably have a brass band! In the States, many towns (some fairly large) have NO organized civic band. We are a nation of consumers, and I think prefer to have music SERVED to us, rather than participate.

Good for us here at SZ, but sad as a national characteristic...