20/11/2017
I played some Xmas music with the local brass band tonight , years ago I would have hated playing Xmas music (typical sleigh bells , triangle , tambourine etc etc) ....it's definitely better to look at a piece of music and think "how can I improve the piece" , by adding different effects and ad lib rather than just playing what's written.(unless thats what the band want , luckily enough I have a lot of freedom to ad lib to a point).
It definitely improves the individuals musicality when you do it. (You may as well improve instead of hitting a triangle every 48 bars).