1925 music — Oboe in the Boy Scout Band

It is said that in Texas, it is necessary to have a fiddle in the band.

At Glens Falls, the community was proud to have an oboe in the Boy Scout Band.

“Seldom indeed does a band or orchestra have the good fortune to have an oboe player. It is an extremely difficult instrument, and few have the courage to attempt to master it,” The Glens Falls Times reported on Jan. 7, 1925.

“Recently the Boy Scout Band recruited an oboe player who has an excellent instrument and is already making good progress,” the report continued. “Ernest Crear of 22 Baldwin Avenue is the new member, and he is a most welcome addition to the band.”

Other news members were Paul Crear, brother of Ernest, on cornet, and Magnus Gleason. on alto horn.

The band also had a new director.

“So enthusiastic were the forty-one members of the Boy Scout Band which met with Prof. Winters for the first time last evening, that all thought of time was forgotten, and the practice was concluded only when Executive Harris discovered that it was 9:30 p.m.,” the Times reported on Jan. 16. “Prof. Winters expressed himself as well-pleased and says that he did not expect such ability within the boys.”

In other 1925 music news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• Grief could not stop the music.

“Few, if any, of the attendees at Strand Theatre last evening realized the sadness of heart which he felt while others were being amused,” The Post-Star reported on Jan. 26. “Mr. Dana (organist) received word yesterday that his father, Charles M. Dana, died Saturday night at Somerville, Mass., following an illness of several years.”

• “Meribah Moore, soprano, of New York and Raleigh, North Carolina, was heard in an excellent program of songs at the First Baptist Church last evening. Miss Moore has not appeared here for two years and her voice was never heard to better advantage than in the program of last evening,” The Post-Star reported on Jan. 3. “She possesses a voice of flexibility, great range and power, and he tone is produced in a very natural and even manner. An audience of enthusiastic listeners expressed appreciation by frequently recalling the singer.”
• Stephen Sobolewski, formerly baritone soloist at Christ Church Methodist in Glens Falls, was touring with the New York Opera Guild, The Post-Star reported on Feb. 4.
• Baritone Oscar Seagle, not surprising, received rave reviews for his concert at First Presbyterian Church in Glens Falls.

“From the moment Oscar Seagle, Glens Falls’ own baritone, stepped upon the rostrum of the Presbyterian Church last evening, until he withdrew after an unusual performance supplemented with numerous encores, the recital was one that gave the audience complete enjoyment,” the Glens Falls Times reported on Feb. 6.

• The Feb. 10 Hudson Falls Symphony Orchestra concert featured a composition by Director Louis A. Fontaine. dedicated to the Hudson Falls Community Council.

Click here to read the most recent previous local music history post.