48 - Interview with Dr. Joel Crawford: Reflections on Early Band Performance

The Early American Brass Band Podcast

Episode 48 features recording engineer Dr. Joel Crawford. Dr. Crawford is a former cornetist with Saxton's Cornet Band and author of "Performance Practice of Brass Band Music of the American Civil War: A Perspective from Saxton's Cornet Band". In this episode, we discuss Dr. Crawford's experiences playing with Saxton's, how he thinks it affected his musical career, how he would record an early American brass band, and much more!

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Music in this episode comes from Saxton's Cornet Band (Lincoln and Liberty, Too!) and The 8th GM Regiment Band from George Mason University.

Episode Structure:

• 2:49 - How Joel became involved with Saxton's Cornet Band and early American brass band research

• 5:20 - Advice to listeners on how to become with early American brass bands in their area

• 7:10 - Why Joel chose to write his dissertation on Civil War brass bands

• 8:20 - Joel's current recording engineer career

• 10:30 - How early American brass band experience influences current recording engineer career

• 16:10 - Experience recording early American brass bands

• 18:50 - Describing the tonal sound of an early American brass band

• 21:10 - The benefits of playing in an early American brass band

• 27:00 - Thoughts on how Fennell recorded the Eastman Civil War cd and bell direction

• 34:05 - An overview of Dr. Crawford's doctoral dissertation on Civil War brass bands and their performance practices

• 42:30 - Experiences growing up in a community band scene

• 45:15 - Any particularly special nuggets of information or newly discovered research included in the dissertation

• 50:00 - Wax cylinder recordings

• 54:40 - The follow-up possibilities for Dr. Crawford's research

• 1:00:28 - Plug Opportunity

• 1:02:00 - Featured Album: "Grand Pianola Music" by the UC College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Wind Symphony