This news comes from Mike Masterson in the Northwest College Music Department in Powell. Mike has served as a Wyoming Arts Council board member.
Here's the news:
On Friday, March 20, an adult brass band involving many WMEA and MMEA (Montana) members will be performing in Denver at the national conference of the Society for American Music (SAM), an organization dedicated to the study of the history and culture of American music.
Chosen by the SAM executive board, and directed by Wild West music researcher, Mike Masterson, from Northwest College in Powell, the band will be playing music originally performed by Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band that provided the music for Buffalo Bill's West Show as it traveled in the U.S. and Europe from 1883 to 1916. Featuring such renowned band directors over the years as William Sweeney, Karl King, and Merle Evans, Buffalo's Bill's Cowboy Band played all kinds of American Music from marches and dances to popular songs, classic band overtures, and medleys of music from European operetta composers like Offenbach.
The current version of Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band, comprised of performers from Northern Wyoming and Southern Montana, recreates the original band in both repertoire and costume in their performances. For more than a decade, this 20-piece band has played for Wild West shows and other indoor and outdoor community events, parades, and concerts.
We will perform a concert in Powell on Wednesday night, March 18, at the Northwest College auditorium as a dress rehearsal for the Denver gig. Hope to see some of you there. On the way to Denver on Thursday, March 19, the Cowboy Band will stop in Casper to play a concert at Casper College at 2 p.m. in the music building auditorium. Doug Bull is our contact in Casper as he has played in the Cowboy Band several times over the last few years. We hope many of you and maybe your students too might be close enough to Casper to attend the concert. The Cowboy Band concert in Denver goes from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Friday, March 20 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Denver. The band will provide music from the original Wild West Show along with slides of Wild West memorabilia, films of Buffalo Bill's original Wild West, and a narration by Dr. Paul Fees, past curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody.
The band members involved in this national conference presentation are listed below. You will recognize many familiar names I know. This kind of musical national exposure for Wyoming and Montana musicians is special and a gig we are eager to play.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Cowboy Band Personnel:
Piccolo: Leslie Viren, Sheridan
Clarinets: Michelle Hansen, Powell; Steve Hanley, Billings, Mont..; Marianne Bibbey, Powell
Cornets: Kerry Boggio, Red Lodge, Mont.; Ken Boggio, Hardin, Mont.; Neil Hansen, Powell; Rob Rumbolz, Powell; Tom Bibbey, Powell; Andy Mrozinsky, Cody
Horns: Pat Parmer, Lovell; Dana Prater, Sheridan; Warren Frank, Billings, Mont.
Trombones: John Henderson, Greybull; Rick Parmer, Lovell; Jack Nauman, Basin
Euphonium: Loren Marsteller, Tujunga, Calif.; Jeff Prater, Sheridan
Tuba: Dr. Ariel Downing, Sheridan
Drums: Ed Martin, Cody; Zack Paris, Cody
Director: Dr. Michael Masterson, Northwest College, Powell
Narrator: Dr. Paul Fees, Past Curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody
