User talk:PAG

Franklin Silver Cornet Band edit
Chris--

I'm the one who's twice edited the FSCB entry. It's not accurate to call us the oldest community band of any type in the US-- there are several that lead us for a couple of reasons. We are probably amongt the top ten, but it's a tough ti9tle to nail down.

Peter Greene


 * Oh. I see. The newspaper got that wrong, then. I had always understood it to be the oldest and was unable to find something contradictory. I will make sure that it stays the correct way, then. Thanks for clarifying. --Chris Griswold  (  ☎  ☓  )  17:05, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Another question: So it is among the oldest, but is it the oldest volunteer band? --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  )  17:16, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

No, probably not the oldest volunteer, either. "Volunteer" is a tough label to make stick when you get back into the early twentieth century-- many bands divied up small payments among members, or paid a few ringers to join in. There's no real way to know how prevalent the practice was with any particular group-- it wasn't the kind of thing anybody kept records of.

I usually go with the phrase "one of the oldest traditional town bands in the country"-- "traditional being sufficiently vague to cover volunteerism and small town setting.

There are people who get really worked up about this stuff. The Allentown Band generally lays claim to "oldest town banjd" title, but the Repasz Band and the Ringgold Band both argue otherwise.

Peter
 * Ah. OK, thanks. Now I understand. --Chris Griswold (  ☎  ☓  )  17:57, 4 September 2006 (UTC)