Here’s a note from a percussionist in Florida with an interest in collecting Civil War drums and music.
Archive for the ‘Concert & Marching Bands’ Category
The Disney World Marching Band
November 9th, 2010
Harry Brabec was in the Walt Disney World Band when Disney World opened its doors to the public in the fall of 1971. This post includes photos of the band and two amusing news articles of the day.
1926 Photo of Five Famous Composers and Conductors
June 28th, 2010In his correspondence with Russian marimbist and composer G. Butov, xylophonist Ollie Zinsmeister acquired a rare photo of five famous conductors taken in 1926. He sent Harry a copy. This post features the photo and excerpts from their letter exchange about it.
The Bensenville/Wood Dale Concert Band
May 7th, 2010The Bensenville/Wood Dale Concert Band has been conducted by Fred Lewis since 1953. This article offers information about Fred’s background, his band, and its outstanding musicians, as well as one of Fred’s amusing “Harry stories.”
The Windjammers Circus Band
May 4th, 2010Most of the great percussionists of the forties and fifties are gone now, but four of them were still playing their hearts out in the Windjammers Circus Band in the eighties and nineties: Harry Brabec, Charles Owen, Buster Bailey and Boyd Conway. In this article you’ll also meet their buddy, Doug MacLeod, now 88 and still drumming with the Windjammers and the Plymouth Community Band. “Playing now helps me to stay mentally alert and physically fit,” he says.
Morton High and Louis M. Blaha
April 28th, 2010Many of Chicago’s finest musicians in the forties and fifties got their musical education at J. Sterling Morton High School under the guidance of Louis M. Blaha. This article, adapted from Barbara Brabec’s memoir about the musical life and times of percussionist Harry Brabec, provides information and photos of Morton’s concert band, marching band and dance orchestra.
