It’s not as easy as you might think, especially if you’re serious about the future of your group.
I formed a new brass quintet earlier this year, and here we are, many months later, still winding our way through the forest of indecision. Don’t get me wrong – we’re dedicated to becoming an excellent group, we’re all great players, and personally we get along just fine – but exploring potential names simply takes time when seen from musical, promotional, and grammatical viewpoints.
The name is likely the first thing people will learn about your group. Competition is everywhere, so it should be catchy, professional, memorable, and easy pronounceable.
For the most part, larger community groups (concert bands, jazz bands, orchestras) have an easier time of it, since most of their numerous members live in an area encompassing a city, town, or geographical region. The group therefore usually takes the name of that area (e.g. Northshore Concert Band, Columbia Jazz Band).
Everyone Gets a Say
What if it’s a smaller group – say, 10 people or less – and your members feel that slapping a geographic label on the group is too hackneyed? But you’re just starting out and everyone wants the chance to voice their opinion. Many excellent small ensemble names are out there, but how did they come up with these titles?
Of the gazillion and one ways to go about this, you might consider the suggestions below, while keeping in mind that you and you fellow musicians must figure out what works for you. Your group name must be meaningful enough so that all members will gladly say it in public without internally shaking their heads or rolling their eyes.
Bag of Tricks
You could do the whole brainstorming thing, and continuously ask for lists from your group members until something clicks: pets, actors, vacation spots, colors, street names, etc. This may work, as you might randomly stumble across a name that has everyone nodding their heads and smiling at each other at your next rehearsal—but don’t count on it.
My quintet has gone down this road a bit, and we’ve started to put more thought into name selection. We’re wondering if some grammatical tricks might help. For example:
- Alliteration – Kronos Quartet, Joan Jett, The Beach Boys
- Intentional Misspellings – Woody Alien, The Beatles, KoRn
- Self-Rhyming – Tears for Fears, Oingo Boingo, Sassy Molasses
- Strange Bedfellows – Musical Potatoes, Starfish Fantasy, Haunted Garage
- Well-known Phrases – Above Average, Carpet Burn, Lunch Break
Your Hardware
Then again, you might think about your instruments. What physical parts make them unique? What musical qualities are they capable of? What else sets them apart from other instruments? At the very least, maybe the name of your instrument can help create a new word or a pun.
- Tower of Power
- Reed Between the Lines
- The Saxophonics
- Flute Cocktail
- Spitfire Trombones
Your Personnel
Another option is to remember what brought you together in the first place (besides the assumed love of playing music). What personality traits do you share? If you were friends before starting the group, how or where did you meet? Do you have any in jokes?
I have no examples for this suggestion, because it’s tough to search for such names online. Plus this type of naming decision may take a while, as it is a more organic, evolutionary type of process. Perhaps this may be best – just let it happen naturally. Someone will say something at a rehearsal and it’ll just hit you.
There are many more ways to go about finding a name, but I hope that this short list has inspired you to move further down the rabbit hole of your group’s collective psyche, as it were. It must appeal to all, and it must have staying power – your members should not tire of the name after a few months, years, or ever.
I’ll keep you informed once my quintet gets closer to an awesome name. Until then, if you’ve successfully been through this process, please do share your group’s name and your story!