Michael O'Connor joins me for a fascinating discussion of 19th Century band music in the United States.

Topics:

• Mike's musical background as a euphonium player
• The development of te American band in the early 1800's and the types of instruments used during the 19th Century
• Claudio Grafullo, Thomas Coates, Patrick Gilmore and the impact of the American Civil War on band music in America
• The Golden Age of band music in the 1870's-1890's

Links:

• Palm Beach Atlantic University
• Newberry Victorian Cornet Band
• Thomas Coates Brass Band
• Robert Hazen and Margaret Hindle Hazen - Music Men: Illustrated History of Brass Bands in America, 1800-1920
• Kenneth Kreitner - Discoursing Sweet Music: Brass Bands and Community Life in Turn-of-the-Century Pennsylvania

Biography:

Dr. Michael O'Connor is a native of central New York but now makes his home in Jupiter, Florida. He is an Associate Professor of Music History at Palm Beach Atlantic University, but in his first career, he was the euphonium player for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus Band. After a short taste of public-school band directing, he turned to musicology, finishing a PhD at Florida State University. He combined his interest in historical music with a love of performing by founding two period-instrument bands. His Civil-War-era band is The Coates Brass Band, and his post-war band is Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band. Both groups have CDs released on the MSR Classics label. He also performs modern British brass band music as baritonist in the Orchid City Brass Band. 

Intro Music: "Cottage by the Sea Quickstep" by Thomas Coates after a tune by John Rogers Thomas (1850's). Outro Music: "Wilking Quickstep" by Thomas Coates (1880's)

Recordings courtesy of Michael O'Connor and the Newberry Victorian Cornet Band