Strike up the band

A pair of area men are marching John Phillip Sousa style toward publishing a book about hometown bands of yesteryear and they could use your help.

Purcell had a band, Lexington had one and Byars did, too.

In fact, it was in Byars at the pavilion by the lake during a performance of The Byars Brass Band that Scott Barger’s grandparents met.

Barger, a 1982 graduate of Purcell High School, is a Norman bank executive. He is collaborating with Dr. Casey Gerber, Assistant Professor of Music at The University of Oklahoma in the research project.

The duo was in Purcell recently searching historical information and documents at the McClain County Historical Museum.

They have been collecting newspaper clippings and old photos from all over the State of Oklahoma on community bands from roughly 1880 to 1940.

“During this time, community bands were a sense of pride in local communities,” Barger told The Purcell Register.

“Before radio, if you wanted to listen to music you had to have live musicians,” he continued. “They would play on the Fourth of July, at political speakings and on Saturday nights when farmers would come into town to buy and sell their goods.”

Dr. Gerber said the bands struggled to make ends meet to purchase uniforms, sheet music and instruments.

Dr. Gerber noted it is high time to research community bands.

“This is a topic that has been largely neglected,” Dr. Gerber, who has published several historical books, said. “They have interesting stories. In Oklahoma, nothing has been written specifically about these bands and their contributions to towns, music and history.”

“We have been searching newspapers and local historical collections across the state and to date have identified over 30 bands,” Barger said. “Several were all-female bands.

“In 1913 the Purcell band doubled as the baseball team,” he said. “J.B. LaComba from the state of Louisiana was one of the first band directors in Purcell. He started bands in Oklahoma and then went back to LSU and started up bands down there.”

Both men are urging any citizen with knowledge about a band here or anywhere to contact them and share their historical information.

“We would love to hear personal stories or anything, like if someone had an old uniform that would be great,” he said.

Dr. Gerber said school bands really started taking over after 1930 when the community bands started making money to support themselves.

“We’re in the process of doing the research and have been to 15 historical museums across the state,” Dr. Gerber said. “We are interested in pictures, clippings and recollections.”

Barger’s email address is wsbarger.sb@gmail.com. His cell number is 405-818-3010.