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 Bands of the Civil War
Author: diz 
Date:   2003-06-23 00:47

Hi - can anyone tell me if there is a publisher that sells music related to America Civil War? Also - what was the "typical" setup (personnel wise).

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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: GBK 
Date:   2003-06-23 00:51

diz...Although by far the most common colonial instrument was the violin/fiddle (played by all social/economic classes), it was common in the colonies to find fifes, English flutes (recorders), clarinets, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, french horns, violas da gamba, cellos, glass harmonica, as well as organs and various keyboards.

There were 2 types of military bands. One was specifically used for the purpose of providing entertainment (dancing, parades, social functions). This usually consisted of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and french horns. The other type of band was a "field band" which consisted of fifes and drummers. They played during marches, battles, and any other military troop duty as required...GBK

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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: diz 
Date:   2003-06-23 01:40

Ah - so it was, similar to the band Beethoven scored for when he wrote his marches for military band (2ob 2clr 2bsn 2hrn) - thanks, GBK ... any ideas about music for this combination ... with an American bent?

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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: William 
Date:   2003-06-23 01:43

Here is a link to Wisconsin's "Own" First Brigade Civil War Band. It uses strictly period instruments and plays only authentic music of the era. A pleasure to hear in person as well.

http://www.1stbrigadeband.org/

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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: GBK 
Date:   2003-06-23 02:13

diz...Here is a link which you may find interesting. It has quite a bit of information on early American composers:

http://www.pdmusic.org/

I would also suggest the fine book Our American Music by John Tasker Howard ...GBK



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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: diz 
Date:   2003-06-23 03:31

GBK ... thanks as always, erudite and scholarly. Williams - fascinating, thanks also.

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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: Mark Pinner 
Date:   2003-06-23 10:19

I think you will find that the instrumentation was Db piccolo, occassionally flute, Eb clarinet, 1st and 2nd Bb clarinets sometimes 3rd, 2 Eb cornets, 1st and 2nd Bb cornet sometimes third, Eb alto/tenor saxhorn parts 1,2,& sometimes 3, Bb tenor/baritone saxhorn 1 & sometimes 2, baritone/euphonium, basses, Bb bass, side drum and bass drum. In other words very similar to a brass band with the addition of piccolo and clarinets, interestingly trombone parts are seldom written in civil war band arrangements. This sort of rough instrumentation was widely used up to the early 1900's even here in Australia, with the addition of trombones. The British formalised the (all) brass band line up after James Gladney in the 1870's. The all brass group took a little longer to catch on in the antipodes and is only a fairly recent phenomena in the USA. An interesting characteristic of the civil war bands was their preference for instruments that have upright pointing bells or even pointing back over the shoulder. Their is also a tradition of the same sort of bands being attached to various railway companies.

Needless to say I have some good sources in this area but as it is part of my as yet unfinished postgraduate study I am loath to disclose my sources to all and sundry.

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 Re: Bands of the Civil War
Author: Rick Williams 
Date:   2003-06-23 12:35

Several years ago my company produced a CD on the USS Monitor and part of the project included the production of period music. An excellent resource was the Indiana University School of Music Library which has an extensive collection of music from the Cicil War era.
Best

Best
Rick

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