August 18, 2009. Western Head, N.S. My Band.

"I say, have you ever heard my band play? If you had, you were in for a treat. I know you could hear other bands any old day, but to hear my band play, you would be in for a treat". Now when I was ten or there abouts, I quoted that poem at band concerts, all six verses of it, but sixty or more years later, I can not quite get the words right. The poem was written by a Salvation Army Commissioner, spoofing the attitude of people about their bands, but I played it straight, until I spoke the words about the band playing a Festival Suite at the Sunday morning church service , which they were not ever supposed to do. Every band member would laugh uproariously at that line. Now I can not even remember the whole first verse, but I can recall the feeling of swelling with pride when you speak about "Our Band".

Tonight is the last concert this summer, The Mersey Band will play tonight at the park right by the Brooklyn Marina, across the water from The Bowater plant. The band flourished for years, but had died a natural death ten years ago, when the bandmaster moved away. Three years ago, Scott, one of the young men from Liverpool, returned from college with his degree in Music, determined to continue the banding tradition in Liverpool. He is very energetic and enthusiastic and he has done a great job of building up the band. For two years he has run a band camp every August. This year 20 students plus 7 adults attended band camp, which included my friend Mary and Frances and Loretta. Scott chooses interesting pieces to play at the concerts and his explanations between items are well done, brief and informative. The band is made up of some full time people here for the summer and full timers living in the area, so it is a difficult thing to structure the rehearsals. Some night the kid from college has returned who is a very good trombone player, and some times the trombone player who is a Doctor, is on call at the hospital, so Scott has a difficult job. But I think the band is wonderful. Except I wish they started and stopped together, and I wish the middle of the range was not like muddy waters, and I wish Scott would choose the pieces that every player could do, not just the best players. But I commend him, and I wish him well with the band, because without him, there would be no band in Liverpool. I do like to brag about "My Band".