For me, the sad part isn't the circus itself going away -- it's the music. Once played by a small collection of woodwind and brass players, it's now played by -- hell, something other than that.
Circus music is some of the most challenging, but fun to play stuff I've ever done.
And to play in a circus -- you had to have chops of steel.
I'll always love playing circus marches, aka "screamers", especially those written by Karl King. Great stuff.
But yeah, it's a form of entertainment that has become blase, and that's a shame. Nothing wrong with a little bit of blase.
