{"id":64168,"date":"2015-10-20T14:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T18:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=64168"},"modified":"2015-10-19T21:05:41","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T01:05:41","slug":"excelsior-cornet-band-opens-events-with-a-concert-for-lincoln","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=64168","title":{"rendered":"Excelsior Cornet Band Opens events with \u2018A Concert for Lincoln\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Excelsior<\/a>
Excelsior Cornet Band<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(Cazenovia, Peterboro, NY \u2013 Oct. 2015) The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum will open its Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipator event with A Concert for Lincoln presented by the Excelsior Cornet Band at 7 p.m. Friday Oct. 23 at the Catherine Cummings Theatre, 16 Lincklaen St. in Cazenovia. Reenactor Jack Baylis, as President Lincoln, will welcome theatre goers to an evening of music connected with Lincoln.<\/p>\n

Jeff Stockham, the director of the Excelsior Cornet Band will explain the musical selections and also share his performance experience in the movie Lincoln.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Historian Philip D. Jordan wrote of Abraham Lincoln,<\/p>\n

“There was deep cadence and melody in Lincoln, but it was not released in song. Yet\u00a0in the end few inspired more music of love and of hate than did Lincoln. The man himself, the cause for which he came to stand, and the very times made for expression in song.\u201d \u201cMusic appealed to Abraham Lincoln\u2019s poetic and sentimental side. One of his associates\u2026 recalled\u2026 Lincoln had told him \u2018all other pleasures had a utility, but that music was simply a pleasure and nothing more, and that he fancied that the creator,\u00a0after providing all the mechanism for carrying on the world, made music as a simple, unalloyed pleasure.\u2019 Mr. Lincoln professed to know little of music, and jested, \u201cI know only two tunes,\u00a0one is \u2018Old Hundred,\u2019 and the other isn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAlthough Lincoln never studied music, as president he probably heard more than any other occupant of the White House,\u201d writes musicologist Douglas Jimerson. \u201cWhile president\u00a0he went to the theater at every possible opportunity to hear operas and musical concerts.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Civil War music scholar Kenneth A. Bernard wrote that there would be<\/p>\n

\u201ctimes when he would be\u00a0deeply thrilled and deeply moved, times when he could relax and be soothed by the familiar tunes, times when he would make requests for particular pieces, times when he would\u00a0compliment the players, times when he would be sustained, and times when he would be brought to tears.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Excelsior Cornet Band is New York State\u2019s only authentic Civil War Brass Band. Founded in 2001, the band consists of a group of Syracuse-area musicians dedicated to the performance of original Civil War era music on actual instruments of the period. Leading the band is one of Central New York\u2019s premier brass players, Jeff Stockham.<\/p>\n

The band utilizes instruments from Stockham\u2019s large collection of antique brass instruments. After consulting with several of the leading experts in the field of Civil War music and brass bands, Stockham formed the Excelsior Cornet Band so that the music of that pivotal period in American history could be once again heard and enjoyed by area audiences.<\/p>\n

The musicians of Excelsior Cornet Band are professional performers with many years of experience in a wide variety of musical genres. They perform with a polished enthusiasm that brings the music of the Civil War brass band era to life. The Excelsior Cornet Band presents an authentic Civil War appearance during its performances, wearing accurate reproductions of 1860s New York militia uniforms. The brass instruments used by the Excelsior Cornet Band are period originals, which date from as early as 1825 to approximately 1872. Several of them were undoubtedly used by regimental bands during the Civil War. They were carefully returned to playing condition by several of the nation\u2019s leading restorers of antique brass instruments.<\/p>\n

The sound they produce is singularly appropriate for the music of the Civil War era. All of the music performed by the Excelsior Cornet Band has been arranged for the band from original Civil War era scores. The band\u2019s repertoire includes many of the most popular melodies of the 1850-1870 period, including patriotic airs, operatic medleys, and popular songs by many of the most renowned composers and bandmasters of the Civil War era, as well as many lesser-known but equally exciting compositions.<\/p>\n

During their years of performing, the Excelsior Cornet Band has presented concerts, parades, educational programs, and living history portrayals for a wide variety of organizations and performing arts in several states. The Excelsior Cornet Band recreates the glorious sounds and appearance of this fascinating and important era, and is available for concerts, reenactments, educational presentations, and other functions.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/a>
Jeff Stockham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some examples of Jeff Stockham\u2019s experience in Steven Spielberg\u2019s movie Lincoln:<\/p>\n

\u201dThe movie company instructed us to not shave or cut our hair for the month prior to shooting, which was scheduled for Monday, December 19th, 2011 (the final day of shooting for the\u00a0movie), at the old Union Station train depot in Olds Town Petersburg, VA. The Wardrobe Department asked us for our measurements so that custom-made uniforms could be produced for\u00a0us. We were required by the Casting Department to send photos and head shots; as a result of this, the casting department (oblivious to the fact that a live band actually has to have\u00a0skilled players) cut several of our key musicians because Casting felt they did not look “right” for portraying members of the US Marine Band circa 1865. We scrambled to find suitable\u00a0replacements, and though I was originally slated to play E-flat cornet, I ended up playing B-flat tenor horn because one of the tenor horn players got the chop from Casting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Spielberg’s vision for the movie was to make as many of the small details as authentic as possible, so it was important for him to have us properly attired as the Marine Band circa\u00a01865, that we play on original Civil War brass band instruments, and that our playing on-set would be recorded and actually used on the soundtrack of the movie. I rented several\u00a0instruments to the production company: My B-flat tenor horn; the bass drum, cymbals, and snare drum; and the M\u00fcller-system clarinet played by Chuck West. When we were having our\u00a0uniforms fitted, I noticed that the belts had sword hangers, but that there were no M1840 musician swords for us to wear. When I asked costume supervisor David Crossman if we would\u00a0be wearing swords, he indicated that they were unable to source any. His eyes lit up when I indicated that I owned more than enough original Civil War M1840 musician swords to outfit the\u00a0band. He offered to rent them, so my wife Victoria packaged them all up and sent them down on the next Greyhound, which allowed me to have them Sunday afternoon for use on the\u00a0Monday shoot. Mr. Crossman was also pleased that I had brought a period-correct drum-major’s mace, so that is seen in the movie as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In commemoration of the end of the Civil War, the death of Lincoln, and the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) has suspended its 2015 induction ceremonies to address the matter of President Lincoln as \u201cThe Great Emancipator.\u201d Several programs will provide opportunity for the public to study Lincoln as an abolitionist.<\/p>\n

At 2 p.m. the next day, Saturday Oct. 24 at the Cummings Theatre, The Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln: Head, Heart, and the American Memory will be presented by Milton C. Sernett PhD with Lincoln scholars Jason Emerson (Editor Cazenovia Republican) and Joseph Fornieri PhD (professor at Rochester Institute of Technology).<\/p>\n

At 7 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 24 Harold Holzer, President of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, will present Abraham Lincoln and the Abolition Press at the Cummings Theatre.<\/p>\n

The Great Emancipator event and the Created Equal Film and Discussion series will both culminate on Sunday, Oct. 25 in Peterboro at 9 a.m. with Abolition Coffee and a guided tour of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (5304 Oxbow Road) with Gerrit Smith biographer Norman K. Dann PhD.<\/p>\n

At 10 a.m. an Abolition Breakfast reception for Dorothy Riester\u2019s sculpture titled Young Lincoln will be held at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum to welcome the sculpture loan from the Stone Quarry Art Park, followed directly by a guided tour of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro) with NAHOF Vice-President Tim McLaughlin PhD. at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

At 11:30 the three part series of The Abolitionists, which is part of the Created Equal: America\u2019s Civil Rights Struggle film series, will begin with Part I of The Abolitionists \u2013 along with Abolition Morning Tea. Part II begins at 1 p.m. with Abolition Lunch, and Part III begins at 2:30 with Abolition Dessert. The concluding session at 4 p.m. examines Where are We as Abolitionists Today?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lincoln red white and blue admission tickets cost a Lincoln bill for adults, and for ages 5 to 12 a Lincoln coin. Sunday, Oct. 25 sessions are free.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  (Cazenovia, Peterboro, NY \u2013 Oct. 2015) The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum will open its Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipator event with A Concert for Lincoln presented by the Excelsior Cornet Band at 7 p.m. Friday Oct. 23 at the Catherine Cummings Theatre, 16 Lincklaen St. in Cazenovia. Reenactor Jack Baylis, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22367],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-gGY","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Excelsior-Cornet-Band.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}