The band will perform music typical of the 1880s time period, played on instruments from that time.
(The audience) will hear the same musical arrangements of opera transcriptions, dances, popular son arrangements, quickstep marches and impressive solo features, said Tech graduate and Newberry band founder Michael O Connor. It s almost like time travel.
Newberry s Victorian Cornet Band is the only group performing this music and style at a professional level.
The music we play comes from an almost forgotten era of band music that deserves to be heard, O Connor said. Since it was the soundtrack of most Americans lives in the late 19th century. I have no doubt that Cookeville had a band just like ours at that time.
While O Connor hopes audiences will find the music charming and the playing first-rate, he also hopes to leave them with a picture of the 1880s to remember.
In a way it will connect them to their ancestors, having heard what they heard exactly the way they heard it, he said. Also, since we are featuring the music of Thomas Coates, I hope more people will be aware of this undeservedly forgotten American musician.
Coates was among the most well-known musicians of his day and deserves to be remembered by the current generation, O Connor said.
The band will also have copies of its first CD for sale at the event.
The event is sponsored by Tennessee Tech s Center Stage, which is made possible by the university s general education fund. The performance is free and open to the public.
Wattenbarger Auditorium is in the Bryan Fine Arts Building, 1150 N. Dixie Ave.