During the 1960s and 1970s Americans observed two milestones: from 1961-65 the centennial of the Civil War, and then in 1976, the bicentennial of the United States. Prior to that time, the historical reenactment movement was small and unknown. Civil War artifacts, such as brass band instruments, could be found at auctions and yard sales for very reasonable prices. With these two observations, history buffs began to get excited about reliving the experiences of the Civil War, including performing and listening to the music. If nothing else, the battle reenactors needed their drums and horns to be authentic. Today it is impossible to obtain any such artifacts for anything less than huge prices.
The American Midwest might be thought to be far away from this reenactment craze, but, in fact, the large number of volunteers from Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois made the centennial observations and reenactments of great interest in the region.
Minnesotans re-formed a 19th century band called the Great Western Band during that decade. The original Great Western Band had originally been stationed at Fort Snelling and was the very first organized music ensemble in the region. Near the end of the 19th century, members of the Great Western Band joined string and wind players in Minneapolis and St. Paul to perform the first symphony orchestra music ever heard in the new state of Minnesota. The revival of the Great Western Band lasted a couple of decades and then folded.
Other revival bands in the Midwest often have developed around communities with larger universities where active historians and research facilities are to be found.
One of these is the Dodworth Saxhorn Band of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The original Dodworth Band was a famous group from New York City that also was the generator of important sheet music publishing and brass band training manuals. This band had a great effect on the development of other bands across the United States. Today’s Dodworth Saxhorn Band, formed in the 1980s, uses antique brass valved horns and drums built between 1840 and 1880. In 1838, Allen Dodworth, the leader of the original Dodworth Band, invented the first valved horn with a bell pointing backwards, for military use. They are called “over the shoulder” (OTC) saxhorns. When a band marched at the head of a column of soldiers, the “back’ard” bells made it easier for the music to be heard. Saxhorns (while invented by Adolphe Sax) have nothing to do with the saxophone. They are a family of conical bore instruments, of which the modern euphonium and tuba are the closest cousins.
The Dodworth Saxhorn Band has appeared at Vintage Band Festival in 2010, 2013, and 2022.
Another historical band in the midwest is the 1st Brigade Band from Watertown, Wisconsin. In 1864 eighteen men from the Brodhead Brass Band enlisted in the Union Army as the band of the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 15th Army Corps. They left their rural Wisconsin homes to participate in the campaigns of Northern Georgia and the Carolinas under the command of General William T. Sherman. The legacy that these men established 150 years ago lives on today with the members of Wisconsin’s 1st Brigade Band. Dressed in natty navy blue Union uniforms, they are a visual spectacle as well as a treat to hear.
Starting in 1964, members of the 1st Brigade Band began to locate and restore dented and broken instruments from the 19th century and to retrieve and reconstruct the yellowed and torn music. They worked within a regional center of activity for scholars and musicians. Through their performances we can now hear what Presidents Lincoln and Davis, Generals Lee and Grant, and their contemporaries heard. More than eighty volunteers, men and women, make up the 1st Brigade Band talent pool. Widely varied in age and occupation, they come from many Wisconsin communities, bringing with them a common interest in their musical heritage. During a typical year, they will meet their audiences more than forty times, in concerts, parades, military balls, and worship services, presenting their educational and entertaining programs.
The 1st Brigade Band has appeared at Vintage Band Festival in 2006, 2010, 2013, and 2016, 2019, and 2022.
A third ensemble that relives music of the 19th Century is the Independent Silver Band (ISB) of Mount Vernon, Illinois. The ISB has a more localized history than the others. During 1884 to 1889 this Illinois community first enjoyed the music of its own Independent Silver Band. Composed of 10 local men, all of who attended the same church and Sunday school. The group provided its city and region with first class entertainment and boundless enjoyment. The unit played for balls, picnics, skating parties, political rallies and much more. Sadly, the demands of family and career dictated the all-too-quick demise of the esteemed musical group. In 1914, the members families and friends gathered together again in Mt. Vernon for a farewell concert, parade and grand reunion. Then, too quickly, the pages of history swept forward on the breeze, and the wondrous music gently wafted away.
In July 2004, the music of the Independent Silver Band came to life once more. William L. Reynolds, of Mt. Vernon, a music educator and long-time circus operator and musician, achieved a lifelong dream by assembling the new ISB. Reynolds believed that he could make available the opportunity for thousands of people to experience authentic American music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By bringing together interested brass players and percussionists from Mt. Vernon and surrounding cities and towns in southern Illinois Reynolds created the proper team of dedicated persons, all of whom shared his vision to give audiences the chance to hear the music of a bygone time.
The Independent Silver Band has appeared at Vintage Band Festival in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022.
–Paul Niemisto
The 1st Brigade Band, the Dodworth Saxhorn Band and the Independent Silver Band will all be in Northfield, Minnesota performing at Vintage Band Festival 2026 July 30 – August 2.
