Northfield’s Vintage Band Festival was recently highlighted in Minnesota Group & Packaged Travel Planner via Explore Minnesota. The three-page article can be found here. (Pgs. 36-38) For more itinerary suggestions, make sure to visit our “sample itineraries” page.
Vintage Band Festival
www.vintagebandfestival.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORTHFIELD, MN (March 23, 2013) – The Vintage Band Festival is once again proud to present performances from a wide variety of brass bands. A rich history is found in British-style brass bands. Two Minnesota-based bands in this tradition will appear at the Vintage Band Festival in August — the Lake Wobegon® Brass Band and the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band.
This band style began during Britain’s industrial era, when newly invented brass valves were being mass-produced. The resulting cultural change took “playing in a band” to a new level, inspiring challenging contests that enlivened the working communities, heightening spirits and creating a category of band music all its own. Today the North American Brass Band Association embodies this tradition passed down through the centuries, while many heritages continue to embrace British-style music throughout the world.
An important distinction with British-style brass band instruments is that they were standardized and transposed to the treble clef, meaning you could pick up just about any instrument and you wouldn’t have to learn new fingering (just adjust to the new mouthpiece) – for example playing a Soprano Cornet (E♭) could be taught like a Flugelhorn (B♭) or a Tenor Horn (E♭) according to the notes on the staff.
Populated by music educators and serious amateurs from around the Mississippi River shores, the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band of Red Wing plays a regular series of performances at the T.B. Sheldon Auditorium as a “house band” and also performs concerts in other regional communities. They have played at the National Brass Band competition and even hosted the event in Red Wing one year. They also appeared at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. This will be the band’s third appearance at the Vintage Band Festival.
The Lake Wobegon® Brass Band formed in 1992 and is cosponsored by Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Anoka Brass Band Association. When Garrison Keillor was contacted regarding the band’s name, he responded, “I’m happy to give my permission. The only condition is that you will let me know when the band is formed…and that at some mutually convenient time, you’ll play at a picnic for me. Good Luck.”
The band’s many notable performances include the 35th anniversary show for A Prairie Home Companion and a number of music educators’ conferences.
“We had a blast being a part of the Vintage Band Festival in 2006 and 2010 and look forward to a chance to be a part of the festivities again in Northfield this summer,” said Chris Ravndal, the band’s executive manager and principal solo cornet.
The Vintage Band Festival is a four-day celebration featuring bands from across the US and abroad. Over 100 concerts fill the streets of historic Northfield and will be staged at satellite sites throughout southern Minnesota on August 1-4. The Festival offers a variety of genres, ethnic influences, and period-style performances. Visit http://vintagebandfestival.org/ for more information.
Find the VBF on Facebook at “Vintage Band Festival” and Twitter at @vintagebandfest.
Sheldon Theatre Brass Band
Lake Wobegon® Brass Band
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This is the first in a series of subject matters relating to the music of the upcoming Vintage Band Festival (Aug. 1-4, 2013 in Northfield, MN). Press information can be found at http://vintagebandfestival.org/news/.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(NORTHFIELD, MN – February 21, 2013) – This year the Vintage Band Festival will observe the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States, a tumultuous time in American history, but also a time when musical activity grew quickly and hugely among the citizens. Many new bands formed during those years to meet the ceremonial and entertainment needs of the troops, both Union and Confederate. As the war ended and the military musicians returned home, they brought with them an appetite for band music that spawned an explosion in town bands all over the country.
Many among us grew up attending band concerts in the village square, often at a bandstand. This was the main entertainment of the week in many communities, and these concerts helped to develop generations of music listeners and prompted the inclusion of band music in the public schools. Still today, in communities like Northfield, New Prague, Cannon Falls, and Faribault, weekly band concerts can be heard on a summer evening.
The Vintage Band Festival celebrates this important music-making by inviting several community bands from Minnesota to share their music. The Carlisle Town Band will perform at VBF. This band is the oldest continuously operating community ensemble in Minnesota; it formed in 1844, a time just after the invention of brass valves. The Carlisle Band also keeps the tradition of having several members from the same families, with ancestors going back to the foundation of the group. The Carlisle Town Band first appeared at the Vintage Band Festival in 2010.
The New Prague Area Community Band represents a city with a rich musical history going back to the 1800s, when many Czech and Bohemian bandsmen were active in both the concert hall and the dance hall. Its members represent such nearby villages as New Prague, Lonsdale, Belle Plaine, Jordan, Elko New Market, Farmington, Lakeville, and Montgomery. The New Prague group will perform various concerts throughout the festival.
The VBF also welcomes an out-of-state ensemble that will reenact the village band experience of the 1800s. The Independent Silver Band of Mt Vernon, Illinois (http://independentsilverband.webs.com/), according to their Web site, started in 1884 as “entertainment for this prosperous and energetic Illinois community.” “The Independent Silver Band was first composed of 10 local men who attended the same church and Sunday school. The group provided its city and region with first-class entertainment and boundless enjoyment. They played for balls, funerals, picnics, skating parties, political rallies, or whenever the community gathered.” Today the Independent Silver Band wears resplendent uniforms in the style of the 1880s and plays the music of the times. The Independent Silver Band first appeared at the Vintage Band Festival in 2010.
The Community band events will be intermixed with many other musical events at the VBF, including British style brass bands, Civil War bands, Baroque ensembles, New Orleans Jazz, Klezmer, Balkan, Mariachi, and wandering groups of musicians playing alphorns, ophecleides, helicons, sackbuts, and clarions, each presentation with a costume or uniform fitting the music.
Vintage Band Festival 2013 is a four-day celebration featuring bands from across the US and abroad. Over 100 concerts fill the streets of historic Northfield and satellite concerts sites throughout southern Minnesota on August 1-4. The Festival offers a variety of genres, ethnic influences, and period-style performances. Visit http://vintagebandfestival.org/ for more information.
Find the VBF on Facebook at “Vintage Band Festival” and Twitter at @vintagebandfest.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Northfield, MN – The 3rd Vintage Band Festival will take place in Northfield, Minnesota on August 1-4, 2013. This international music festival is a four-day celebration featuring 30 bands from across the United States and abroad with 100 concerts showcasing a variety of genres, heritage influences and period-style performances.
An estimated 15,000 people enjoyed the music at Vintage Band Festival 2006 and 2010. “With a larger number of bands and a more extensive concert schedule, we expect that we’ll draw even more visitors to Northfield,” commented Dr. Paul Niemisto, the Festival’s Artistic Director.
Ensembles participating in the Vintage Band Festival 2013 include some exciting international bands, nationally recognized vintage bands, Midwestern vintage ensembles and a number of Minnesota-based brass bands and community bands. For a complete list of the roster and links to individual band websites, visit www.vintagebandfestival.org.
Auxiliary events surrounding the festival are: vintage base ball, ballroom-style dance, vaudeville entertainment, Battle of the Bands, Massed Civil War Bands Concert, Lunch Listen & Learn concerts, historical musical instrument exhibit, Sunday music in area churches, and the Early Brass Festival gathering of the Historic Brass Society (New York). All performances are free and open to the public, although financial donations are encouraged. Dress in vintage attire is usual, but not required.
Events begin at noon each day. There are performances on the hour and every ½ hour at various venues throughout the city well into the evening. In observation of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, there will be a Battle of the Bands on the banks of the Cannon River.
The Vintage Band Festival will also be collaborating with the Saturday morning Riverwalk Market Fair.
Surrounding communities will also collaborate through satellite VBF performances. Events are scheduled in Dundas, Faribault, Owatonna, Cannon Falls, Kenyon, New Prague, Red Wing, Chatfield, St. Peter, New Ulm and Linstrom.
The Vintage Band Festival 2013 is a non-partisan, non-profit community organization. For more information, go to www.vintagebandfestival.org.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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