Meet The Band is an hour-long historical narrative profiling four very different community bands. Bill Parker created the film 10 years ago, then ran into royalty problems and shelved the project; he's released it now on Vimeo.

"Looking back at American history, if you take the time to look a little closer, you're almost always going to find a band ... never quite in the limelight but always close to the action."

Over eleven months in the making, the new site contains all your old favorites plus a couple thousand more for nearly 3,000 items altogether. This is in keeping with our mission of "Preserving and Sharing Music from the Golden Age of the American Town Band." Having access to The Library is like adding 15+ four-drawer filing cabinets stuffed full of paper copies to your band room.

You're invited to stop by, browse around and start using the expanded Library any time.

One of the best resources for free band music just got better! There's even a new "Guide to Playing Music from the Library"

The new, younger members, along with the relatively recent addition of Rob Tite as band master a little more than three years ago has given the band new energy, some members said.

Rob Tite directs the Owen Sound City Band during the first regular Monday night free summer concert at Harrison Park recently. BILL HENRY Sun Times staff

Skelton, who also plays flute with the Georgian Bay Symphony, said this band offers different music and a different approach. Instead of learning new repertoire for every concert, there’s a broad, interesting and varied selection from hundreds of band music gems stored in 10 filing cabinets dating back to the 1890s.
“We have a pile of stuff,” Skelton said. “We do some of it at this concert and another bunch of it at the next concert but we never let go of anything in there.”
He said some of the recently circulating repertoire adds a welcome new challenge, while the beauty of the band is offering something for musicians of all levels and all ages.

Our thanks to Bill Henry for this feature and yes, it is, it is just a fun thing to do that then spreads the joy around; what could be better?

The Owen Sound city band and West Hill's new percussion ensemble will be part of the Grey County Kiwanis Festival of Music's concerts of festival stars for the first time.

Both were among this year's festival participants to achieve the highest results, which includes adjudicators' recommendations to play at the wrap-u p concerts and share some $10,000 in festival awards and scholarships, executive director Mary Jane Quinn said Friday.

Some 2,000 singers and musicians competed at venues around Owen Sound from April 4 through 7 and 11 through 14, with about 600 individual entries, Quinn said.

As always, the festival wraps up with two festival stars concerts, with winning soloists and small ensembles at Alliance Church tonight at 7:30 p.m. and choirs, bands and orchestras at OSCVI auditorium Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Admission to both concerts is $5.

Confirmed participants for Tuesday's concert include The Dufferin School Junior Choir, the Grade 7 and Grade 8 Choir from Hillcrest school, The St. Anthony's Glee Club, from St. Anthony's Catholic school in Kincardine, the Hillcrest Husky Jazz Band, The Georgian Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Georgian Bay Secondary School Senior Orchestra.

The Port Elgin Saugeen Central School Grade 8 Band has also been invited but had not confirmed availability Friday, Quinn said.

Our congrats again to all the musicians who participated in this year's Kiwanis and a big round of applause for all the music teachers and community band leaders; the performances this year were astounding and especially encouraging were the new entries from some of the smaller towns and schools. This is the real music, played by people who call it 'playing' because they know that it is play!

Show starts tonight at 7:30, a mere $5 admission goes to support the festival and thereby encourage the schools to put in all this amazing effort; promises to be a great show for one and all!

There’s a lot to be said for sitting up straight and walking tall. Indeed, there’s something about proper posture that exudes health and confidence. ... a good posture will even make you look thinner (not that any of us need to look thinner, of course, just sayin’).

For us who play a wind instrument, the habit of good, proper posture pays – and pays handsomely. As I mentioned in my article, 8 Tips for an Open Throat and Bigger Sound, the path between the diaphragm and the bell of the horn must be as unencumbered as possible. And you can bet your bottom Bb that a curvature in the airstream is going to do nothing but lousy for your sound.

In fact, don’t take my word for it, but see for yourself. Listen to and feel the sound you get when you play slouched down low. Now try playing sitting or standing up straight. Big difference.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure that you’re using the posture principle to the best effect ...

In honour of this being the starting week for the Kiwanis Music Festival here in Owen Sound, some sound advice for all you players as you take the stage, and it isn't just for the woodwinds either: standing or sitting in a proper balance is just as important for muscle control in piano and percussion, and breathing fully from the base of your chest improves oxygen intake (the O2 collectors are mostly at the bottom of the lung) and right there we're talking about a keener brain in charge of the muscle!

William George Iles
photo above taken during World War I
from the collection of Janet Iles

Born in Naunton, Gloucestershire, England on 1 February 1885, he was the eldest son of George Iles and Emily Pugh. He emigrated in 1905 from Birmingham England, with his wife and young daughter, May, his mother and siblings. It is believed that his father had come to Canada the previous year.

In World War I, William served his country with the 58th Canadian Infantry Battalion in France as a bandsman and a stretcher bearer. He left his young family to go overseas.

William began playing cornet as a boy of 14 in England and he soon joined a Salvation Army Band. When he came to Canada, he reorganized the Salvation Army Band in Owen Sound. He was its leader. He also took over leadership of the Legion Band that eventually became the Owen Sound City band. It is through his work with the brass bands in the city, he became best known. He taught many young people how to play a brass instrument.

People often ask us, "Who is the youngest member ever in the band?" and y'know, that's not always an easy question to answer. Chances are, though, Scott Farmer sitting in with the band here in a 1979 gig is at least a close runner up. Thanks for posting this Scott, and hey, is that a 70's era Bon Tempi four-valve cornet you're sporting there?

MuseScore is a free cross-platform WYSIWYG music notation program, that offers a cost-effective alternative to professional programs such as Sibelius and Finale.
You can print beautifully engraved sheet music or save it as PDF or MIDI file.

Some highlights:

• WYSIWYG, notes are entered on a "virtual note sheet"
• Unlimited number of staves
• Up to four voices per staff
• Easy and fast note entry with your keyboard, mouse, or MIDI keyboard
• Integrated sequencer and FluidSynth software synthesizer
• Import and export of MusicXML and Standard MIDI Files
• Available for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Translated in 35 languages
• GNU GPL licensed

We all run into this problem: You have a part to play but you need to insert a few bars of a line borrowed from another instrument, or you need to transpose the Eb Horn for your F Horn, or you need to move Bass Baritone to Treble Clef Bb, all sorts of little tasks that shouldn't need hundreds of dollars worth of software to do them, and they don't, because MuseScore does all of this and more, for free.

But is MuseScore up to the job? I think so: I was reminded of MuseScore a few days ago reading about the Petrucci Music Library plan to convert the complete Goldberg Variations into a free and open format for download and study; I figure if MuseScore is ready for Bach, it will pretty much do anything our ensemble might require.

And there's more, much more, because MuseScore is "free software", meaning it isn't owned by anyone, it is owned, built, improved and supported directly by the people who use it everyday. That's you and me and thousands of other people; it's like a great software barn-raising, you don't buy free software so much as you join it, you become part of a greater community of musicians, developers and developer-musicians who all work together to solve the problems, help each other, teach each other, address the issues, set the goals and add the features. So the software stays focused and current, and, the best part, you get a say in the matter because you're part of the team; everyone is welcome because that's how it is done, and that fact alone is more than worth the price of admission :)

Many times in the education environment it is not conducive to use YouTube because of what is posted in the comment sections or what appears in the suggestions and playlists.  YouTube does not make this an easy task to do directly from their site.

This tutorial will help you solve that problem by learning how to easily remove the comments by implementing a couple of different solutions.

YouTube is a great resource for showing your music students example performances of the pieces you are working on, for showing authentic performances in particular genres and cultural styles and for illuminating even the most esoteric technique tips on the most obscure instruments, but yes, it can sometimes assume the viewer is an adult mind who will make adult choices on the links offered along the side of the video frame. So what to do?

Here's a techie teaching tip from our friends at MusTech.Net, click on the thumbnail for the video (on YouTube) explaining how to set up the musicroom computer so that you can seamlessly mine the rich resources of that archive without subjecting your students to the very often less than informative comments attached or the sometimes (ahem) curious choices offered in the sidebar as suggestions.

on a tip from the musicmattersblog.com, a intro to an emerging website of free printable music theory resources for beginners; key signature drill sheets, reading bass clef (with accidentals!) and keyboard recognition (which is an essential skill for all musicians, even percussionists!). And did I mention it was free?