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1st Brigade Band visiting Spencer for free concert

Take a trip back in time with an upcoming musical performance in the village of Spencer.

The LuCille Tack Center for the Arts will host the 1st Brigade Band for a free concert in the park on Sunday, July 27, at 1 p.m. at the Spencer Community Stage, 105 S. Park St. In the event of rain, the concert will be moved to the Tack Center.

The “Grand Concert” will feature the brass formation playing authentic Civil War-era musical arrangements on original instruments, as well as providing historical anecdotes on the way. The band’s authentic outfits and superb showmanship will add to the nostalgic atmosphere.

The 1st Brigade Band performed at the Tack Center this past November in a patriotic concert designed to honor our country’s veterans. That performance was well-received and the Tack is excited to welcome them back, this time to a new venue.

The group hails from Watertown, with its roots in the Civil War. Per the group’s website: “In 1864, eighteen men from the Brodhead Brass Band enlisted in the Union Army and became the 1st Brigade Band, 3rd Division, 15th Army Corps. The ‘tradition of excellence’ that these men established more than 160 years ago continues today with the reenlisted 1st Brigade Band.

“The band makes history live by presenting period brass music, performed on antique instruments.”

Band members have found their instruments at pawn shops, garage sales, or estate sales. These instruments, original to the 1860s or thereabouts, were built for marching and thus look different than the band instruments of today. For example, you may see trumpets or euphoniums with the bells facing backward, so the soldiers following the band could hear the music and keep in time.

“More than 80 volunteers, men and women, make up the 1st Brigade Band,” the website continues. “Widely varied in age and occupation, they come from many communities, bringing with them a common interest in their musical heritage. During a typical year, they meet their audience more than 40 times, in concerts, parades, military balls, and worship services, presenting educational and entertaining programs.

“While abundant written and pictorial materials remain, the mellow sounds of the brass bands of the 1860s were lost until the 1st Brigade Band, starting in 1964, began to locate and restore the dented and broken instruments and to retrieve and reconstruct the yellowed and torn music. Through their work you can now hear what Presidents Lincoln and Davis, Generals Lee and Grant, and their contemporaries heard.”

That music will include all sorts of patriotic tunes, Sousa marches, parlor songs, and even dances with dancers as well. Soloists both instrumental and vocal will round out the program.

Along with filling their ears with snappy melodies, concertgoers will also be able to fill their bellies with delicious food being prepared by the Spencer American Legion Post 298. Proceeds will support the Legion.

ACivil War vendor with books, pictures, and memorabilia will also be there.

Concertgoers are asked to bring their own lawn chair. Although there is no admittance fee, donations to the Tack Center are welcome and appreciated.

Sponsors of the event are Steve and Carol Hemersbach, Donna M. Rozar, Bonnie and Claude Strutz, Duane and Anne Teska, Darin Thompson, and the Spencer American Legion Post 298.

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