Since the beginning of this movement Dr. Goldman’s efforts for its advancement have been continuous. As a judge at contests and music festivals, adviser and consultant, he has freely given his time. “These High School and College Bands have a wonderful future and will exert a great influence upon our country’s music,” said this music authority. Dr. Goldman is in great demand as a judge or speaker at all music festivals.
He firmly believes that every child should learn to play a musical instrument. “With that hobby,” says Dr. Goldman, “boys will not loaf or linger on the streets, not knowing what to do with their spare time. Now, with shorter work hours, people have more unoccupied time. Those who become interested in music will be interested in all the better things of life—art, literature, and sculpture. The only worthwhile things that last are cultural things. Music will remain with them forever.”
Municipal Bands
Clang! Clang! went the firebell. The members of the Lone Tree Band practicing in a room above the fire department, dropped their instruments and scuttled pell-mell downstairs to go to the fire. They were led by their bandmaster who was also the fire chief.
Lone Tree might have been any town in the early 1900’s when a band was as necessary to community pride and self respect as was its fire department. The usual practice room was back of, or above the engine house, or it may have been in the back room of a grocery store if the proprietor chanced to be a bandmember. Here the public-spirited citizens tooted away through long hours preparing for the weekly or monthly concert.
To the townspeople these blaring sounds were a promise of good times to come; for the band concert was a big social event, not only in the towns but also in the surrounding communities. Stores remained open on those nights. Hitching racks were all occupied. Families and young couples came in various kinds of conveyances from lumber wagons to surreys with fringed tops and occasionally a Ford or perhaps a Pierce-Arrow. The young people strolled around the commons or parks in the moonlight; older women visited with relatives or friends; while the men gathered in small groups to talk about politics or crops. All discussed their favorite “pieces” from The Poet and Peasant overture to Listen to the Mocking Bird with variations. The latter gave the cornetist an opportunity to display his technique, and he seldom failed his audience.
The municipal band became a unifying influence of the entire community, and by 1912 nearly every town of any size in the United States had some kind of a band. Victor and Columbia Record Companies were selling 1,000,000 march records a year. The march kings were as eagerly followed as the popular jazz kings of today.
Maintaining a band was not easy, but subscription and taxation plans were used in many municipalities of all sizes even in rural communities. Major George W. Landers of Clarinda, Iowa, a prominent bandmaster himself, fathered the Iowa Band Law, a model for similar legislation in more than half the states of the Union. This law permitted towns and cities of less than 40,000 to levy a local tax “for maintenance or employment of a band for musical purposes.” Major Landers holds a high place in band history.
Police and fire department bands, many of which are still in existence, have rendered a real service to their communities. Service clubs such as Kiwanis, Rotary, Exchange, and Lion, have sponsored juvenile bands in many towns and cities. Fraternal orders, American Legion Posts, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other organizations today support some fine bands.