The 1850's-Era Yankee Brass Band

A B-flat tenor horn.

On July 25, local residents and summer visitors alike were treated to a concert of 19^th band music played on authentic instruments. The performance, held in the chapel at Colby College, was the first of the Yankee Brass Band's weeklong Summer 2004 tour.

The band, whose members live throughout New England and beyond, comes together for only one week each year. It has two days of intense rehearsals followed by half a dozen performances. The other performances on the band's 2004 tour took place in Saco, Castine, Eliot, Bethel, and Conway, N.H. Next year's tour will take the band to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Cornets, alto and tenor horns, bass and percussion instruments, some of which may have gone through the Civil War and many of which were crafted with brass imported from France, all are part of the band. But the most interesting instrument may be the bar iron and tools of the blacksmith trade which are used to replicate the rings of the anvil in renditions of "The Village Blacksmith."

The moving force behind this unique band is the Friends of the Yankee Brass, Inc. who "enjoy presenting music of 19th century America, not only as music, but as a way to convey understanding of our cultural heritage. We appreciate the sound, style, appearance, and impact that musical ensembles had in an era when life was much simpler, clearer, and less hurried. Our aim is to promote performance and public understanding of New England's rich heritage."

The following history is adapted from The 2004 Yankee Brass Band program:

In 1986, with a collaboration of David Briggs of the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction, Vermont, Paul Maybery of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mark Elrod of Germantown, Maryland, and a small host of brass players from around the country, the first "Yankee Brass Band" performed in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire. What was created was an historically accurate recreation of an American Brass Band circa 1840-1870, performing music of the period in an appropriate style and on the original instruments.

The original pieces of music, some traced from copies of old band programs, have been researched, restored, and arranged for the Yankee Brass Band by Paul Maybery, noted musicologist, music historian, and conductor of the Yankee Brass Band.

Although from Minnesota, Maybery has a lifetime love of Maine since vacationing here as a child, and has spent much time in New England researching music. Not only are the largest collections of period music located in New England, but many local town bands still have them in their libraries. One of the best collections, located at the Manchester (N.H.) Historic Association, is that of the Manchester Cornet Band led by Walter Dignum. Also, the Nevers Band of Concord, N.H. still uses its ancestral — the 2nd N.H. Regiment's Band — music books.

Among the musicians in the Yankee Brass Band are engineers, doctors, teachers, consultants, professional musicians and representatives from many other walks of life, but all share a common love and respect for the music of the early brass bands. Many direct or perform with similar bands in their own hometowns, which are located throughout New England, and in Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

The integrated expertise of these modern musicians with their antique instruments and authentic music scores produces one of Northern New England's most entertaining and informative musical events. The bands of yore spent many lonely, lip-ripping hours trying to smooth all the bleeps, blats, honks and wheezes out of their feisty horns. It took a lot of wind, a thick hide, and a whole bunch of determination to be a musician back in those days . . . we are playing on those same "feisty" horns!

For more information about the band and 19^th band music, visit the web site of the Friends of the Yankee Brass. Locally, contact Dennis Harrington, cornet player from Oakland, at 465-9204 or dgharrin@colby.edu. The Yankee Brass Band is tentatively scheduled to be appearing next in central Maine in 2006.

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The 1850's-Era Yankee Brass Band