Wednesday, July 31, 2013

More Music

I'm steeped in Civil War music these days.The progress on my Civil War book included fun research at the Danville Iron Heritage Festival. Look at the bands I got to hear!
Dodworth Saxhorn Band of Ann Arbor, Michigan

Excelsior Cornet Band of New York from Syracuse, New York

The 2nd South Carolina String Band
These three bands are beyond amazing. The Dodworth can be found on the web here: http://www.dodworth.org/ and they stream music all the time.

The Excelsior Cornet Band has this site: http://www.excelsiorcornetband.com/Excelsior_Cornet_band/Home.html
Their E flat cornet player, Jeff Stockham, is a great treasure. Their music was beautiful.

 The 2nd South Carolina String Band is here on the net: http://civilwarband.com/
Note their web address. They are one of the best known civil war music groups in the country. Their music is what might have been heard around the campfire. An outstanding group.


So that was my experience at the Danville Iron Heritage Festival. I'm really getting close to finishing up the book proposal. I cannot wait to start writing this book!



Thursday, July 11, 2013

Who would have guessed it would be the Civil War?


Who would have guessed that my chosen topic would be the Civil War? I'm not much of a war history buff. I'm more about biography and social history. But when Michael joined the Hazleton Liberty Band which has been in continuous existence since before the Civil War, I just couldn't find out enough. So the topic's not so much the war but the bands and the music of the Civil War.
Now I know I want to share this information with kids. I've been thinking about this book for several years.
I got such a good response from two editors at the nonfiction conference a few weeks ago, that it's full steam ahead now. And this weekend, I'm off to the Danville Iron Heritage Festival which will emphasize the Civil War period. There will be four of these wonderful reenactor bands present. Can't wait!