The Arion Band is one of the oldest community bands in the United States, based in

Frostburg, Maryland Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...

, established in 1877. Its current director is Dr. Ronald Horner, professor of

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Frostburg State University Frostburg State University (FSU) is a public university in Frostburg, Maryland. The university is the only four-year institution of the University System of Maryland west of the Baltimore-Washington passageway in the state's Appalachian highlan ...

, and its current president is Todd Logsdon. The band rehearses at the historic Arion Band Hall (built in 1895) on Uhl Street in Frostburg and typically gives 5-10 performances in the Frostburg and Cumberland area during the summer. The band's namesake, the legendary Corinthian musician Arion, was the "Jolly Mon" of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

; he was rescued by dolphins after pirates threw him overboard. A group of German-Americans in Frostburg founded the German Arion Band in 1877. During the anti-German hysteria of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the band changed its name from the German Arion Band to the Frostburg Arion Band. The band long since stopped relying exclusively on German-Americans, though that ethnicity still abounds in the region. Today the band's membership numbers between 30 and 40 players. Members of the band range in age from 14 to 80. The band's membership comes from local citizens and students, including several members of the Frostburg State University marching band. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many U.S. town and cities had at least one community brass band, peopled by shopkeepers and farmers and children; it was the era saluted in

Meredith Willson Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 19 ...

's musical ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments ...

''. In towns with substantial immigrant populations, it was not unusual to have one German-American band, one Italian-American band, etc. Most community bands disappeared in the late 20th century.

External links

Arionband history

Arion Band Website
h1>

References

{{Reflist
Arion Band Website
Concert bands Culture of Cumberland, MD-WV-PA Musical groups from Maryland Allegany County, Maryland 1877 establishments in Maryland Musical groups established in 1877