Town Bands, a link to our musical past

Town Bands once numerous in small town America have all but disappeared from the scene in most of the country. Wisconsin and Minnesota still have several, but the small town brass band of a century ago has become a thing of the past.

From 1870 to just before the First World War, the small town band was the only form of entertainment people had. There was no telephone, radio, television, automobiles, planes, and the only way folks of a century or more ago. The town band played at weddings, funerals, parades, and in the bandshell on the green on lazy summer evening when ladies in long dresses sipped lemonade while listening to the local boys play a Strauss Waltz or a stirring march.

Small town bands had their beginnings with the returning Civil War bandsmen and from the late 1860s to 1920, the movement caught fire. My grandfather was a clarinetist in the Kenosha Band and it was there that he met my grandmother. I can picture her now, sipping lemonade and keeping an eye on that handsome fellow playing clarinet.

The picture of the Batavia band shows the instrumentation of smaller band and the Eb cornet played by the seated musician (second from the right). The transition from Eb to Bb brass band was still not under way,The British Brass Bands still use Eb cornets, but American bands seldom use them.

I can remember 60 years ago as a young man playing in my first town band. As a beginning musician, I found the music challenging but it sparked an interest in a hobby that continued into my mid 70s.  Music is a wonderful and rewarding hobby and I’m sure it will continue to entertain me as a now participate in it in different ways.