(NOTE: The picture above was from the 1992 Clarksburg Field Day)
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Some things to keep in mind as you look at the documents:
A). FILE FORMATS:
The files below are either presented in an Adobe format ( .pdf extension), or in a graphic format.
You can LEFT "CLICK" on the files below to open them up either to just READ, or to also PRINT them as you wish.
B). HANDWRITTEN VERSUS TYPED:
Many of these notes are handwritten. You can now experience the same difficulty reading some of them as the band members did at the time they were handed out to us.
C). GILBERT'S "UNOFFICIAL NOTES":
Usually, at the band's end-of-the-year dinner, there would be an "official" accounting of what happened during the year, to usually include:
Well, for almost 30 years, the band also had an "unofficial" record keeper, Gilbert, one of the band's clarinet players.
Gilbert would often take up to two pages of incredibly detailed, handwritten notes, per performance.
He would document:
And then, for the end-of-the-year band dinner, he would also prepare end-of-the-year totals of all this information, and a few times even printed out booklets containing this, plus some pictures he had taken, to give to each member.
His documentation about the band's activities over those several decades was a real dedicated effort, especially since he did all of that work by hand with literally scrap paper and pencil, and not on a computer.
His records actually provide some of the most complete history about the band that we have thus far found.
Gilbert was a dedicated musician, certainly a very strong clarinet player, and also very focused on the bands in which he played. When his health reached the point that it prevented him from playing the clarinet, he stayed on with the band playing the bass drum. Not that there is some kind of moral lesson there, or that this is the start of a joke about percussionists, but it was a way for him to continue as a musician and with the band.
Unfortunately, Gilbert passed away in 2004. Through a series of coincidences, I just recently came into possession of a box full of the handwritten records he painstakingly kept for many years.
After countless hours of scanning documents, all of Gilbert's information is now a part of this web site. The information about the band now available to others just went from "interesting" to "intimidating", as Gilbert's records alone added several hundred new entries, and that now there are @ 1,000 documents (band schedules, newspaper clippings, etc.) on the web site available for review.
And this is not to count the @ 300 pictures that have been added thus far, with more on the way.
Since the band also had its own official record keeper, any document prepared by Gilbert has been labeled: "Unofficial notes" . That designation is not to infer that his information is any less accurate, but it just separates his documents from those produced by the "official" record keepers of the band.
We think he would appreciate that all of his efforts and information about the band has now become a part of this web site.
A). FILE FORMATS:
The files below are either presented in an Adobe format ( .pdf extension), or in a graphic format.
You can LEFT "CLICK" on the files below to open them up either to just READ, or to also PRINT them as you wish.
B). HANDWRITTEN VERSUS TYPED:
Many of these notes are handwritten. You can now experience the same difficulty reading some of them as the band members did at the time they were handed out to us.
C). GILBERT'S "UNOFFICIAL NOTES":
Usually, at the band's end-of-the-year dinner, there would be an "official" accounting of what happened during the year, to usually include:
- How many jobs were played,
- What the jobs were,
- Attendance numbers,
- Maybe who even had the best attendance, and
- Misc. information about the year' s activities.
Well, for almost 30 years, the band also had an "unofficial" record keeper, Gilbert, one of the band's clarinet players.
Gilbert would often take up to two pages of incredibly detailed, handwritten notes, per performance.
He would document:
- Who all was there by name and instrument,
- What the weather was like,
- Crowd attitude,
- The cost of fish sandwiches (one of his favorite things....actually a favorite thing of EVERY band member!),
- The names of the songs played, regardless of if it was a practice or performance,
- How many times we would play each song if it was a parade,
- The seating arrangement of the band members by instrument if it was a concert,
- Who may have shown up late, or had to leave early,
- Band member totals of attendance at practice and rehearsals, and
- A whole host of other things involving numerous calculations of how many times things were done, and the band members who did them over the course of the last year, or sometimes over several years.
And then, for the end-of-the-year band dinner, he would also prepare end-of-the-year totals of all this information, and a few times even printed out booklets containing this, plus some pictures he had taken, to give to each member.
His documentation about the band's activities over those several decades was a real dedicated effort, especially since he did all of that work by hand with literally scrap paper and pencil, and not on a computer.
His records actually provide some of the most complete history about the band that we have thus far found.
Gilbert was a dedicated musician, certainly a very strong clarinet player, and also very focused on the bands in which he played. When his health reached the point that it prevented him from playing the clarinet, he stayed on with the band playing the bass drum. Not that there is some kind of moral lesson there, or that this is the start of a joke about percussionists, but it was a way for him to continue as a musician and with the band.
Unfortunately, Gilbert passed away in 2004. Through a series of coincidences, I just recently came into possession of a box full of the handwritten records he painstakingly kept for many years.
After countless hours of scanning documents, all of Gilbert's information is now a part of this web site. The information about the band now available to others just went from "interesting" to "intimidating", as Gilbert's records alone added several hundred new entries, and that now there are @ 1,000 documents (band schedules, newspaper clippings, etc.) on the web site available for review.
And this is not to count the @ 300 pictures that have been added thus far, with more on the way.
Since the band also had its own official record keeper, any document prepared by Gilbert has been labeled: "Unofficial notes" . That designation is not to infer that his information is any less accurate, but it just separates his documents from those produced by the "official" record keepers of the band.
We think he would appreciate that all of his efforts and information about the band has now become a part of this web site.
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