THE “LOST MARCHES” OF PENNSYLVANIA MILITARY COLLEGE - “The Gray Battalion March” (1904) by Albert H. Dunn.
In 2004 the Alumni of the PMC Band raised the funds and built a beautiful Band exhibit at the PMC museum. We also vowed that we would try to discover classic PMC music from the past and bring it back to life. At that time, we located and “resurrected” Colonel Hyatt’s Military Polka,” an 1864 composition. YES, 1864! In May 2022 we resurrected and introduced the “PMC Cadets’ March,” composed by George Rosecrans in 1904.
June 15, 2022 is the official debut of Albert H. Dunn’s PMC march tune titled “The Gray Battalion,” also composed in 1904. Dunn was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. The recording that you will hear is a fine computer simulation of a concert band performance of the march.
This may truly be the only audio recording ever made of this march. We found the sheet music online in the archives of the University of Maine. Since both of these “lost” marches were composed in 1904, we believe that PMC may have encouraged their “birth,” perhaps even as a contest. John Wanamaker was the head of the Board of Trustees then and he and President Charles E. Hyatt might have hatched a plan. No further information explaining these marches has been located thus far. You can bet that John Wanamaker knew "a bit" about advertising, though, and these marches were likely well known in their day.
Viewing in the YOU TUBE App on a SmartTV, desktop, or laptop is highly recommended. Tablet and phone viewing is fine too, if necessary. Our “lost” marches are recorded in beautiful stereo sound and you’ll always find them at the PMC Museum You Tube Channel. Enjoy!
Concept, Research and Video Editor - Andy Fraser, PMC '67 Musical Arrangement and Computer Simulation - Kenton Scott
SOURCES CONSULTED:
The cover page sheet music for the 1904 “Gray Battalion March” hangs on the wall in the PMC Band exhibit at the PMC Museum in Widener University's Alumni Auditorium. When the Band exhibit was constructed in 2004, at the expense of the Alumni of the PMC Band, no sheet music was available other than the cover itself. The sheet music cover was in the possession of Rebecca Warda, PMC Museum Curator and Jan Alexander, Wolfgram Library Archives.
digitalwolfgram.widener.edu/di...
The Alumni of the PMC Band, headed by Andy Fraser ‘67, were determined to locate the rest of the sheet music in order to bring the march back to life. This was finally accomplished in 2022 when Fraser located the rest of the sheet music on the University of Maine's website here:
digitalcommons.library.umaine...
Fraser next consulted with Iain Moyer, head of music at Widener and later Fraser located an expert who arranged an orchestration and also produced a recording of the tune via computer simulation. Thus, the audio track for this tune was re-born, through a collaboration between Andy Fraser and the very generous Kenton Scott of Scott Music Services, located in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
scottmusicservices.com/
Graphics and photos used in this video were sourced from Widener University's Wolfgram Library's Digital Archives Collection, to include the 1903 and 1904 yearbooks, and 1928 and 1929 sources regarding the cadet dress hats and General Hyatt's "Warrior Thunderhawk" honors at the 1929 graduation. The 1929 graduation video parade clip was provided to Andy Fraser in 2004 by Andy Michael at the Widener Media studio. An extensive amount of vintage PMC video was provided to Fraser by Michael at that time, including this clip.
Concept, Research and Video Editor - Andy Fraser, PMC '67 Musical Arrangement and Computer Simulation - Kenton Scott.
14 июн 2022
