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 Page 2 â€" Great Canadian Town Band Festival â€" June 14-16, 2002 Weekly Times Serving East Clarington and beyond since, 1937 This GCTBF program is published by the ORONO WEEKLY TIMES 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON LOB 1M0 Email Address: oronotimes@speedline, ca Phone/Fax 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Z Z/ Great Canadian Town Band Festival Message from the Chairman: We are extremely pleased to be able to present the Great Canadian Town Band Festival for a third year. This would not be possible without the support of key sponsors, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, The Ona Miller Foundation and Ontario Power Generation. This years’ program will be better than ever as we present The Spitfire Band, True North Brass, Intrada Brass Roots and feature one of the world’s finest trom- bone soloists, Alain Tfudel. Our Military Tattoo on Friday evening presents an excellent evening of pomp, pageantry and the sounds of musket fire with the 48th Highlanders of Canada, the Royal Regiment of Canada, The Queen’s Own Rifles Skirmishers and a number of other outstanding bands. Those who attend the weekend event will enjoy the best Military, professional and amateur brass and woodwind ensembles Canada has to offer. We hope you will enjoy this great weekend of out- standing music celebrating 200 years of Canada’s Band Heritage. David Climenhage Chair, GCTBF Committee 2002 Festival Committee Members: Brigette Brown, Jeanne Burnside, Judy Climenhage, Janet Cringle, Brian Dallaway, Gail Empey, Mary Sue O’Connor, Colin Rowe, Margaret Zwart. Wash Board Hank in last year’s GCTBF parade. Oran Haiti 1907 The village of Orono is steeped in Town Band history. A town band was estab- lished and performing in Orono as early as 1857. Canadian Town Band History Bands were well estab- lished locally by the 1840's, a decade of major settlement and population growth in this area. By 1898 virtually every village in present day Clarington had a "Town Band". In the days before recordings and radio, they pro- vided the musical entertain- ment most often heard in Canada. The Town Band was very important to the citizens it served and was a great source of community pride. Earliest Bands in Canada British military bands were stationed in Upper and Lower Canada beginning in the 1790’s at the major garrisons of Quebec, Kingston, and Newark (Niagara on the Lake). These bands played in parades and outdoor events and performed regular con- certs in the communities they served. Their popularity with the local citizens was unparal- leled and they became | a key component of cultural life in garrison towns. 1 From about 1790 to the end of the 1930's, bands composed of brass, woodwind, and per- cussion instruments were the mainstay of regular musical performance in Canada. The European tradition of string orchestras and chamber groups did not come to the wilderness settlements of Canada until much later. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries wind instru- ments went through a period of dramatic improvement. The development of valves for brass instruments and keyed pad systems for woodwinds made these instruments much easier to play and gave them the tone, articulation, and vol- ume control to make them solo instruments in their own right. The invention of the saxo- phone added another range of new voices to the wind band. * Military bands quickly adopt- ed the new wind instruments, increasing the repertoire they could perform to the enjoy- ment of their concert audi- ences. British band-masters and musicians garrisoned in Canada found they could sup- plement their .incomes by teaching others to play and by selling and repairing wind instruments. The musicians they trained went on to estab- lish town , company and mili- tia bands throughout the 19th century.1 Some British bandsmen remained in Canada after their military service to train and lead new bands. By 1870 the last of the British Regimental Bands returned to England, but by then they had estab- lished a musical legacy that still flourishes today. Clarington's Band history Present day Clarington's boundaries include the two original townships of Clarke and Darlington and is made up of a collection of towns and villages amalgamated into a single municipality. The earliest record of a band performance was in Bowmanville in 1848 by the Bowmanville Independent Brass Band. A town band was also established and performing in Orono by 1857. This was the longest running and ope the most successful bands in the area, operating from the early . 1850's to about 1970. During the period from 1850 to 1900, town and com- pany bands grew up in virtual- ly every village in present day Clarington. By the 1890's the list of bands included: The Dominion Organ and Piano Co. Band, the Durham Rubber Co. Band, The Salvation Army Band (Bowmanville), along with town bands in Bowmanville, Orono, Newcastle, Newtonville, Hampton, and Kendal. The British Regimental Band influence in Clarington's' town bands is well documented. The Dominion Organ and Piano Company Band established about 1880 in Bowmanville, hired William Carey, a British Regimental Band Master, from the Prince of Wales Rifles in Kingston. He was described by one of his bands- men, David Morrison as "one of the finest band teachers in the Dominion" He helped transform the D.O.& P. Co. Band into one of the best in Upper Canada. This band trained a very competent core of soloists and band masters who led and influenced most of the bands in Clarington and the sur-, rounding towns, A few of the D. O. & P.Co. Bandsmen went on to direct and play in leading* bands in Toronto, Chicago • and were one of the largest American touring circus bands of the . day. The Dominion Organ and Piano Co. Band existed from 1880 into the early 1900's but its influence • continued through its graduates like Milt Tamblyn who led The Durham Regiment and the Orono Band up to about 1970. Four of his descendants still play in the Clarington Concert Band.