Band Music in American Life: A Social History: 1850-1990

The story of America's bands reflects the needs and aspirations of its changing people, from their struggle to forge a common identity to their efforts to preserve and express their uniqueness and diversity. For half of our national history, amateur brass bands dominated the musical life of thousands of towns and villages around the country. Today many different bands continue the tradition and provide not only entertainment but also a sense of community identity and shared meaning. This portfolio explores the great band movement from the years following the Civil War through its demise in the 1920s and its renewal and reinterpretation by school bands and the bands of ethnic and cultural groups. Primary source documents provide first-hand accounts from band members, photographs, advertisements, band programs, and descriptions of parades and festivals. Interviews with a modern-day band director and a professional musician explore the meaning of the music in the contemporary scene. An audio-document cassette presents fifteen representative selections that include the music played by 19th-century military and amateur bands, the compositions and unique recorded voice of John Philip Sousa, music of today's school bands, and traditional sounds of ethnic bands, gospel, and New Orleans brass. 6 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays * Brass Instruments and Brass Bands * The Town Band Around 1900 * The Professional Band: Gilmore and Sousa * The School Band Movement * Ethnic Bands * New Orleans Brass Bands 12 Primary Source Documents: * Advertisement, Sears catalog, 1899 * Newspaper article on the bands of Honesdale, Pa., 1881 * Page from solo cornetist's part book, c. 1899 * Postcard, c. 1900 * Collage of bandstand photographs * Newspaper article on a firemen's parade, 1898 * Concert program, Patrick S. Gilmore, conductor, 1892 * Tour schedule, Sousa Band, 1896 * Advertisement, Sears catalog, 1940 * Interview with John Paynter, band director, Northwestern University, 1991 * Magazine article on Italian festivals in New York, 1901-1902 * Interview with Gregory Davis, leader of Dirty Dozen Brass Band, 1990 15 Audio-Documents: * Captain Finch's Quickstep, Frederick Fennell and brass ensemble * Lilly Bell Quickstep, Frederick Fennell and brass ensemble * Indiana Polka, Frederick Fennell and brass ensemble * Slow March: Midnight!, Frederick Fennell and brass ensemble * Sousa Speaks and The Stars and Stripes Forever, John Philip Sousa and the Sousa Band * The Washington Post, H. D. Woodson High School Band * Child's Garden of Dreams, Movement III, Northwestern University Wind Ensemble * Mare Azzurro, Military and Political Italian Club Band * Marcha de Concerto, Our Lady of the Angels Band * El Quelito, Banda Sinaloense * Precious Lord, Take My Hand, McCullough's Kings of Harmony * Maryland, My Maryland, Eureka Brass Band * Eternity, Eureka Brass Band * Lickety Split, Dirty Dozen Brass Band * Leave That Pipe Alone, Rebirth Brass Band