2015 Volunteer Awards at OSCVI

Volunteer Awards 2015

Celebrating 94 Years of Community Music!

94 years ago on July the 20th the new City of Owen Sound handed William Iles a cheque for $200 to outfit the new city band; we think that's something worthy of a celebration! Mayor Haswell was there with a gift from the city, a framed certificate of thanks for our 94 years, and there was burgers and sodas for everyone. And cake, we can't forget about the cake! It's not a birthday party without cake :)

Post by Owen Sound City Band.

Our New Blog!

Here it is, our new blog home space now relocated on Blogger.com!

With the closing of Posterous.com last month, our old blog had to be bundled up and moved to new digs, and, well, it was an adventure in webspace export formats, but mostly survived the trip.  There will be some rough edges for a while until we can re-upload the photos and videos that were hosted on the old site (the import to blogger.com only copies the text with links back to the original images ... which are now long gone) -- the good news is that we have backups and it is just a matter of sifting through and replacing the broken content.

So please bear with us; if there are any photos or videos you were particularly hoping to find, drop us a line and we'll make those a priority!

Happy practicing!

Some Old City Band Photos

Bob Bell got a slide scanner for Christmas and sends us three more pictures from the OSCB's illustrious past:

"specifically the season of 1976-77. I was Deputy Bandmaster at the time and these are three gigs I led. The first picture is the Legion Church Parade, Sunday before Nov. 11th, formed up in front of First Baptist Church on 4th Ave. E.. There were still quite a few vets in the band that year.
"The second picture is quite possibly the worst Santa Claus Parade in living memory. We're marching west on 10th St. The building beside us is the Seldon House (Jason's) when it was still painted white. We are about to left wheel onto 2nd Ave. E. We marched shoulder to shoulder to try to keep warm. My trumpet plugged up with ice. The saxes kept losing notes until their reeds split. By the time we reached the reviewing stand at City Hall, we had only percussion left working.
"The third picture is the grand opening of the brand new Shallow Lake Arena. Indoors, thank goodness, though they put us on the ice."

A Very Merry Christmas from your Owen Sound City Band

And so ends another busy year of concerts, parades and music music music!! Here to wrap it all up, our gift to you, some action photos (via Linda Joch) from our annual Family Christmas Concert last weekend at the Bayshore Community Centre, with a bit of free Christmas music thrown in for extra fun, a few tunes from us, and a one from our special guests, the Hillcrest Husky Ensemble!

See you in 2013!

Christmas 'round The World by Owen Sound City Band

Do You Hear What I Hear by Husky Ensemble

Santa Baby by Owen Sound City Band

And the bandmaster is...

A message from our City Band President:

 

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Julia Richards has been hired on a permanent basis as bandmaster for the Owen Sound City Band.

 Three cheers for the first female bandmaster for the Owen Sound City Band!

 The executive has also appointed Dan Blenkinsop to the position of Deputy Bandmaster.

 Congratulations to you both and I look forward to many great performances to come.
 
Clinton Stredwick
President of the Owen Sound City Band
 

_

Central Place Courtyard (12-08-07)

Some scenes (and sounds) from down by the fountain in the courtyard of Central Place last Tuesday evening, the Owen Sound City Band under the direction of our intrepid semi-conductor Dan Blenkensop, staving off the rainclouds with that big windband sound :)

many thanks to our resident photographer Linda Joch for sending these along!

Junior Band by Owen Sound City Band

Music Box Dancer by Owen Sound City Band

At A Dixieland Jazz Funeral by Owen Sound City Band

A Nice Evening for A Concert In The Park!

Some scenes and sounds from last Monday evening, our first show of the 2012 Summer Concerts in the Park series, and also our own City Band Member's BBQ! :) ??On the MP3s we have Celebrate Ontario, a mysterious hand-written score we found in the archives, very likely dating back to the Ontario Bicentennial in 1983, and a positively psychedelic old-time march Slidin' Easy, a trombone feature??that is just way too fun to play. ??The third is the original-score Copa Cabana, a must-have tune for these hot Sydenham summer nights in July!

From now until the end of Summer, the Owen Sound City Band will be performing at the bandstand in Harrison Park every Monday evening except the Civic Holiday weekend, with the July shows starting at 7:30pm and 7:15pm in August. ??We'll also be out at the Queen's Park bandstand downtown on First Avenue West on the third Thursdays of each month; you can come out to listen, or, if you are a player, do come out and sit in with the band! ??We have extra music folders and we'd love to have you in the group -- making music together is what it's all about!

Celebrate Ontario by Owen Sound City Band

Slidin' Easy by Owen Sound City Band

Copa Cabana by Owen Sound City Band

City Band Summer Schedule

Here's our schedule for the 2012 Summer Season

• Saturday JUNE 30 - BAND TO?? PLAY 10:15, UNTIL 10:55,?? at QUEEN'S PARK BANDSTAND, 1ST AVENUE WEST, , BETWEEN 8TH AND 9TH STREETS -

  OFFICIAL INAUGURAL CONCERT FOR THE NEWLY REBUILT BANDSTAND

Please plan to arrive early due to limited parking, etc.
The organizers recommend parking at the old Health Unit building at 9th St or at the municipal lot south on 1st Ave E. ??Cars will be allowed through the barricade to drop off instruments, but will likely not be permitted to park along 1st Ave West.

• Sunday JULY 1st -CANADA DAY - KELSO BEACH PARK AMPHITHEATRE-??
  Band to play 6:30 to 7:20PM.

  Please avoid setting up equipment in front of the previous act (singing 6:15 - 6:30), by setting up our equipment before they start, or quietly at the side, then finish setting up when they are finished. Thanks you.

• Monday JULY 9th - HARRISON PARK BAND PICNIC AND?? CONCERT -
  band to play from 7:30PM on, for one hour or more.????

  Two rows of table in the Picnic shelter have been booked for the afternoon and evening, to use as social get-together for band members and their families. More details to follow -

• Thursday JULY 12th 7PM civic re-dedication ceremony commemorating official 100 year anniversary of Harrison Park??to be held at the Harrison Park Bandstand.

• Saturday, JULY 14th - HARRISON PARK CENTENNIAL PICNIC at 12 o'clock NOON
  Billed as an all-ages Old Tyme Picnic, this is a free event hosted by the Friends of Harrison Park; the festivities begin with a mass canoe floatilla arriving at the north island at 11am with the opening ceremonies capped by an old-fashioned bandstand concert (ie us ;)??

  Here again parking is extremely limited??-- car pool if at all possible, there will be shuttle busses brining the public to the park from the municipal parking lots. ??If you do arrive by car, tell the gate guard that you are will the city band and expect to be directed to parking at the bottom of the hill. ??They are expecting 1000 visitors or more and Harrison Park only has a few dozen parking spots.

• Monday JULY 16th, HARRISON PARK CONCERT - 7:30PM Start

• Monday JULY 23rd, HARRISON PARK CONCERT - 7:30PM Start

• Thursday JULY 26th, QUEEN'S PARK CONCERT (to be confirmed) - 7:30PM Start

• Tuesday??AUGUST 7th, Central Place Retirement Community - Courtyard 7:30PM Start

• Monday AUGUST 13th, HARRISON PARK CONCERT - 7:15PM Start

• Monday AUGUST 20th. HARRISON PARK CONCERT, 7:15PM Start

• Thursday AUGUST 23rd - QUEEN'S PARK CONCERT (to be confirmed) - 7:15PM Start

• Monday, AUGUST 27 - HARRISON PARK CONCERT?? 7:15PM Start

• Saturday, SEPTEMBER 1st - noon, DESBORO FALL FAIR

The two Thursday evening Queen's Park Bandstand concerts have yet to be confirmed by the City; a confirmation on these will follow later.

AGM Agenda and 2011 minutes

Yes, it's that time of year again: this Monday evening regular practice will be bumped aside for our Annual General Meeting, with the election of officers and (re)appointment of the bandmaster and all that fun administrative stuff. Attached here are the minutes of last year's AGM and our Agenda for Monday. ??Should you notice any errors or omissions, or if you have something to add for the meeting, please contact Clinton Stredwick directly.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MARCH 21, 2011.pdf

OSCB Agenda April 30 AGM.pdf

Call for Comment: Draft of the OSCB Constitution Online for Review

Constitution of the Owen Sound City Band Final Draft.pdf

As promised at the 2011 GM, the constitution committee set out to craft a new modern constitution for the band and the first public draft of this is hereby available for member review; the constitution draft will be posted here and on the main website for the 30 days leading to the annual GM on April 30, 2012 whereupon, with member recommended changes and amendments, the membership will vote on adopting the official constitution.

Through the course of our 92 year history, the City Band has had several constitutions, some simple, some quite elaborate (and on legal-sized paper no less!) but as it sits, the last was crafted in 1963 with some modernizing changes made in the 1970's and while we have been using that document as a guide for executive policy, those guidelines are clearly outdated and inappropriate in our modern community band situations. ??For one thing, we cannot afford to pay our members (yes, once upon a time you did get paid to have this much fun! ??well, ok, it may not have actually been this much fun, and besides, the pay wasn't much anyway)

So a new deal was sorely needed and here it is, our first crack at defining who we are in 2012 and who we hope to be going forward into our second century. Please understand that this document is a DRAFT only, submitted for comment and approval, it is not ratified, it is just our starting point towards a workable constitution to hopefully be ratified by the membership at the AGM April 30th. Comments are welcome and encouraged; members are invited to comment directly to Clinton Stredwick, band president; an email will follow later today explaining the membership process for comments.

Stormy Weather - YouTube

1933 arrangement by David Bennett of the Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen "Descriptive Fantasy" STORMY WEATHER; recorded last summer during Monday Night concert series on the Harrison Park bandstand with the Owen Sound City Band under the direction of Robert Tite.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-WMZwYjkVw]

Ethel Waters first sang Stormy Weather at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it that year, and in the same year it was sung in London by Elisabeth Welch and recorded by Frances Langford. It has since been performed by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Clodagh Rodgers, and Reigning Sound and most famously by Lena Horne and Billie Holiday. Leo Reisman's orchestra version had the biggest hit on records (with Arlen himself as vocalist)

David Bennett (b. Ida Grove, IA 3 Sept. 1892; d. Chicago, IL 27 Aug. 1990) was a nationally known band-music composer and arranger in the 30's and 40's, and named a life-member of the American Bandmasters Assoc in 1929 -- the Carl Fischer catalog gives his bio as:

David Bennett's name on a composition, as composer or arranger, has for years been a symbol of quality and distinction to discriminating music directors. His compositions and arrangements reflect a thorough understanding of the problems of players and directors alike, gained from a long and varied experience in every phase of music. Characterized by sound musicianship and good taste, the David Bennett publications in the Carl Fischer catalog have deservedly found a wide audience.

We're Older Than We Think!

The answer to a long-standing mystery solved in an email today from Judy Gray:

???The Advertiser??? (Owen Sound???s other newspaper at the time) stated on July 22, 1920..??

??

"the city granted $600 to the??new City??Band."

So we have a birthday! ??I suppose that was a council report from Wednesday the 21 inaugurating the Owen Sound City Band by an order of council to approve the budget that kickstarted William Isles and his bandsmen! That means we're goin' on 92 years old now, and still lookin' pretty good!

Photos! Dec. 19 at Summit Place

Linda Joch sends us this photolog from last year's show at the Summit Place -- if you've been thinking about joining your friendly neighbourhood community band, here's what it's like :)

psst -- our 2012 season rehearsals start tonight, 7:30pm at OSCVI, just so you know ...

Bill Parker's 'Meet the Band'

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/30810706 w=500&h=283]

via vimeo.com

Meet The Band is an hour-long historical narrative profiling four very different community bands. Bill Parker created the film 10 years ago, then ran into royalty problems and shelved the project; he's released it now on Vimeo.

"Looking back at American history, if you take the time to look a little closer, you're almost always going to find a band ... never quite in the limelight but always close to the action."

Caroling in the Downtown for the OSDIA

Our intrepid photographer John Cowper sends us this photo essay from last Sunday's caroling in the downtown for the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area. Set with a book of old favourites in our lyres, members of the City Band gathered at the town hall and then wandered about from shop to shop to ring in the Christmas Cheer (scoring a few cookies along the way! :)

If you missed us last Sunday, you can catch us at the Tom Thompson tomorrow at quarter to six when we kick off the Owen Sound Festival of Northern Lights (lots of music, food, good cheer and fireworks!) and then again Saturday Morning for the Owen Sound Kiwanis Christmas Parade!

And as an added bonus, and Added Bonus Track!  A free mp3 (or two) recorded during our rehearsals for the Sunday Walk, featuring our semi-conductor Julia 

Beautiful Saviour by Owen Sound City Band

Deck The Halls by Owen Sound City Band