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Music by the Lake at Glenwood, Minnesota
It's summertime. The hats are white, the grass is up, and there's no ice on the lake. What could they be watching?The children watch too, divided into separate clumps of boys and girls.Some wish that...
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Kameraden in der Musik
When four men share the soldier's life they become Karmeraden – Comrades. That bond is no less strong even if they happen to carry trombones instead of rifles. It was surely true of this quartet of...
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Theatrical Ladies
It's an old army joke."Who was that woman I saw you with last night at the canteen," asked one soldier of another."That was no woman," exclaimed the other soldier. "That was my Feldwebel {Sergeant}...
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Two Musical Child Prodigies
It is the universal dream of every parent – a wish for a smart and clever child. But suppose that wish comes true? How do parents manage a precocious child who displays a musical talent beyond their...
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The Music Lesson
LA LEÇON DE MUSIQUE – LL.THE LESSON OF MUSIC – LL.No.1L'ÈLÈVE ―Mi, mi, sol. — La musique estun art ridicule! Je ne pourrai bien sùr rien chanter aujourd'huiJe ne sais pas vraiment quelle fièvre me...
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Prisoner #7280 - A Lifer in Music
The way that some musicians play music should be a crime, and saxophone players often get accused of some illicit musicianship worthy enough to send them to jail. Yet despite the widespread abuse of...
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Music in the Field
It was a warm day. The air smelled of canvas tents, horses, and cut grass. The soldiers had begun their daily drills so there had to be music. Three boys came to hear the army band play. The exact time...
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The Jenkins Orphanage Band
Every photograph has a tale to tell, but few photos offer such an abundance of stories as this one does. Family history, social history, music history, and world history are all intertwined together in...
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Im Felde – In the Field 1915
Eins, Zwei, Drei, G’suffa! Prost! S.S. 11 Im Felde 1915 A small moment in the lives of soldiers captured on film and turned into an accidental work of art. These men from a Bavarian Infantry...
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A Royal Family
Once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a grand palace. On summer evenings, he and his beautiful wife enjoyed nothing better than to listen to their children play music together. Until one...
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Two Make Three
When does two make three? When one half of a pair is doubled of course. In this case it is the two musicians and three cornets of the Esperantoj Artisto. On the left stands a woman playing a cornet...
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The Musical Water of Mineral Wells, Texas
Texas is usually known for cowboys, not sailors. But in 1917, some 400 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, a children's band from Texas posed for the camera in their best white jumpers and sailor hats. This...
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The Band on the Pier
The custom of having a band play to welcome a ship on its return to port is a fine naval tradition. But these musicians must have been a thrilling surprise to the young college men on deck, all Army...
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Send in the Clowns!
Did she catch your eye? That girl looking into the camera? She distracts our attention from this saxophone quartet until we notice that the other three players are made up with clown faces. Of the four...
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Sharp Hats for Low Brass
The uniforms of military bands have always been where more high fashion is displayed than martial arts. In the decades before 1914, an army bandsman's apparel was often as bright and flashy as any...
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Trick or Treat?
Ya like our tunes? Don't squawk or holler. We'll take a pie, a jug, a nickle or a dollar. Whatcha ya got? We ain't picky.We got plenty more songs to set your feet a'tappin'.Each one worst than the...
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The Poet Photographer
Some photographs are more than a two-dimensional image. Some have hidden meanings and clever twists that convert a picture into poetry. This modest carte de visite photo is one of them.A bearded man...
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Time for Two
Today's extreme sports enthusiasts could learn something from the daring example of this happy couple of 1913 who are sledding down a steep Alpine slope while at the same time playing two complex...
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Don't This Dazzle Your Eyes!
There's something very odd about this band's photo. Despite their proper posture the 49 musicians of the Ladies' Concert Band, Iowa State Normal, of Cedar Falls, Iowa appear to be sliding off the...
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Brown's Family Orchestra
Some puzzles turn out to be more challenging than they first appear. The solution seems tantalizingly apparent but somehow remains concealed. For some time this musical photo has been a riddle that...
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