It took the recent posting by Bill Welsch to drag me out of the snow-induced stupor up here in the wilds of western Virginia, but this is to let you know that The Trumpeter of Jamestowne is alive and well, and still pumping out the music.

re the American Revolution.  I did a descriptive piece for brass band last fall which I call YORKTOWN-1781.  True to my modus operandi, not a single note is original.... well maybe a dozen or so.  It tells the story musically of the spring of 1781 when Cornwallis was ravishing fair Virginia, to his untimely end in October to the strains of THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.  If you liked that great scene in "Casablanca" where the French singers overpowered the Nazis who were singing Das Vacht am Rhein, with La Marsellisie, you'll love how I do the same thing with Rule Britannia, and LM.  If you are interested, I can send you a MP3 performance by the Band of the Piltdown Fusiliers, and if you find a brass band, I can send you all the parts.

The Civil War.  As we ramp up to cele.... uh... commemoration of the 150th (I think) anniversary, keep in mind that we have two musically unique things here in Virginia.  #1, the only Confederate Band Music to survive, except for those pesky Moravians down in NC who never throw anything away.  I published the 19th Virginia Heavy Artillery band books back about 2001.  And the Crestmark Military Brass Band recorded them, along with a vocal of LORENA which makes strong men weep,  a few years later.  #2 The ONLY band -- Union or Confederate -- to retain all of their original band instruments, mostly over-the-shoulder saxhorns thought to have been made by Adolph Sax himself in Belgium, is the Stonewall Brigade Band in Staunton.

CW continued.  If you are looking for a brass band to spice up your event, both the Mountain Saxhorn Band (part of the Stonewall Brigade Band), and the Cabell-Breckinridge Brass Band at VMI perform with reproduction OTS saxhorns.  Old favorites like THE LILY BELL QUICKSTEP, BAND OF THE SHENANDOAH MARCH don't sound the same on those modern trumpets and French Horns in use by the rest of the musical world.  Bob Moody is the contact for the SBB and Col. John Brodie for the VMI guys (and maybe a girl or to by now.)

Randy Cabell - The Trumpeter of Jamestowne

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html