Book Review

Music and Musket: Bands and Bandsmen of the Civil War by Kennith Olson

The book Music and Musket by Kennith Olson is a histoy of martial music during the Civil War. It begins with a brief history of martial music in America, as well as the band movement in America. Olsen spends a great deal of time outlining the importance of the bands to the war effort both in terms of propaganda and morale. He also includes a chapter on the instruments used, as well as the music performed. While Olson does describe in great detail the band at Fort Sumpter, he usually tends to stay away from any great detail about specific bands. For this reason I would consider this book a broad overview of the topic of Civil War Bands. If you are looking for information on specific bands, or bandsmen this book would probably not help you very much. However, if you are new to the subject this book would be a great place to start.
-Art Haecker

Excelsior Cornet Band

The Excelsior Cornet Band is a Reenactment band from Upstate New York that performs on authentic antique instruments. They have also recorded a very nice cd of Civil War band music. Here is a link to their web site. Enjoy!

http://www.excelsiorcornetband.com/

American Brass Quintet cds

There are two cds by the American Brass Quintet that are a must have for the Civil War Music fan. Both of the cds are from the notebook of the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band. This band is significant because it is the only complete collections of origional sheet music in existance from a Confederate band. The First of the two cds is entitled Storm in the Land: Music of the 26th North Carolina. The second cd is Cheer Boys Cheer. Here is a link to the Amazon listing of the cds.

Storm in the Land:

http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Land-Music-North-Carolina/dp/B0000649O1/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204680923&sr=8-2

Cheer Boys Cheer

http://www.amazon.com/Cheer-Boys-Music-26th-Regimental/dp/B000HWY5QG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204681568&sr=1-1

The American Brass Band Journal

The American Brass Band Journal is a cd collection of the brass music from the Civil War. The primary performers on this cd are the Empire Quintet. Other performers include John Swallow, John Marcellus, and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The conductor is Fredrick Fennell. Here is a link to Amazon's listing of the cd including reviews and, musical samples, and discriptions.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Brass-Band-Journal/dp/B000AARKV2/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204680147&sr=8-23