Liberty Band of Iowa

The Liberty Band of Iowa is a historic brass group quite near the University of Iowa - they are based out of Marion, Iowa. If you search for "Liberty Band of Iowa" (with the quotes) on YouTube you will actually find zero videos of anything. Despite this, they are certainly keeping some amazing history alive.

Watch 13 different videos here.



A few fast facts:

  • Their oldest instrument is a B-flat cornet dating from 1852.
  • They have about fifty pieces of music from the Civil War era in their book.
  • Their typical season is from March to November and they have a rehearsal or two prior to each performance.
  • Rehearsals have been Fridays at 6:30 PM at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum
  • Send an e-mail if you want to join or book the band: LibertyBandIowa@mediacombb.net

They write:

Musicians play instruments made 130 to 160 years ago. Instrumentation is: 3 Eb soprano cornets, 2 Bb soprano cornets, 2 Eb alto horns, 1 Eb solo alto horn, 2 Bb tenor horns, 1 Eb helicon, 1 Bb/Eb bass saxhorn, 2 piccolos and 2 rope tension drums. Music will be played in the key of Eb as it was with the Civil War bands. The Liberty Band plays selections from the 3,500 + titles surviving from that time.

They perform about ten times each summer. In addition to playing at numerous local events they are often invited to perform at bigger festivals such as the Iowa Municipal Band Festival and the Vintage Brass Festival held in Northfield, Minnesota. Watch their Facebook page and go check them out!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dodworth Saxhorn Band

Image
This post is about another period-specific group: The Dodworth Saxhorn Band. So you probably are familiar with the horn and are probably familiar with the saxophone - so what is a saxhorn? Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) was a Belgian inventor who contributed a lot to music throughout his innovations. The saxophone family, his invention, is named after him. He also influenced the development of the tuba and euphonium via other instruments like his saxhorns . Wikipedia  also has some interesting information. So, now that everyone knows about saxhorns, I would like to introduce the Dodworth Saxhorn Band. The Dodworth Saxhorn Band in period dress. The Dodworth Saxhorn Band  is modeled after a similarly-named Dodworth band that was well-respected ensemble whose heyday was in New York City from 1840 to 1880. This ensemble was reborn in 1985 thanks to the avid instrument collector Alexander Pollock. Today's Dodworth Saxhorn Band is based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The band only ...
Read more

Rayner Brown

Image
Rayner Brown was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1912. At age 14, Brown would move to California and live there for the rest of his life. He attended the University of Southern California where he completed a B.M. in organ and a M.M. in composition. He studied with Hanns Eisler and Lucien Cailliet. He would go on to teach at Biola University for thirty years until his retirement in 1977. Brown's primary instrument was the organ therefore he maintained various church positions as well some notable leader positions in organ guilds. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that much of his compositional output involves the organ. His catalogue includes over two-hundred compositions including a Requiem Mass for Winnie the Pooh. Throughout his career,  Brown was asked to compose numerous commissions, received multiple Ford Foundation grants and was even the recipient of ASCAP awards for a surprising fifteen years straight. Rayner Brown  passed away in 1999. The Music of Rayner ...
Read more

Garden Rain - Toru Takemitsu

Image
Toru Takemitsu  (1930-1996) was a Japanese composer. He first heard Western art music when a military officer played a record for him and his fellow soldiers. After the war, in 1948, Takemitsu began studying composition with Kiyose. Takemitsu would remain largely self-taught in all things composition. Toru Takemitsu Takemitsu's greatest influences include Debussy and Messiaen. The timeless quality of their music can be heard in his music. Like them, he composed music with ambiguity: using modal melodies to mask the harmony for example. His 1957 Requiem caught the attention of Igor Stravinsky and this helped Takemitsu receive more recognition. Toru Takemitsu In 1964, he was invited to contribute to a series of lectures in Hawai'i by the East West Center. Another composer present, one who was a generation older than Takemitsu, was John Cage . The two exchanged many ideas but interestingly, Takemitsu was already employing some of Cage's most unique approaches: ind...
Read more