Band- A city legacy

When the legendary John Philip Sousa brought his band to Cape Girardeau in 1929, they were met by a throng of people at the train depot, and the mayor presented Sousa a key to the city. An audience of 7,000 to 10,000 school children listened to the band perform that afternoon on the college campus, and 1,500 more attended a concert that night at Academic Auditorium.

The community loved bands then -- and it still does.

The history of a Cape Girardeau band goes back to 1900, when Capt. C.F. Schuchert formed his own band to play for public gatherings. The 12 members were called Schuchert's Coronet Band. Dr. Clarence Schuchert, a dentist, succeeded his father as director of the band. He was the leader when the band enlisted as a unit during World War I. The older men were sent home after three months and formed a town band that played at Courthouse Park during the war. Schuchert championed the campaign to allow the state's municipalities to levy a special band tax.

Some of the directors -- the Schucherts, Danks, Shivelbine, Wilcox -- are legends in Cape Girardeau's musical history.

The recent announcement that performer Keith Brion will portray the "March King" at Academic Auditorium March 26-27 comes at a time when Cape Girardeau is trying to decide whether it can still afford a municipal band.

The city council already has cut $2,000 from the band's budget, which will mean the band will play 13 concerts this summer instead of 14.

The band no longer is paid for through a tax but is funded through the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

Mayor Jay Knudtson and some members of the city council have suggested that the band needs to start paying part of its own way. Band director Ron Nall thinks the band will cease to exist if its funding is cut further.

It is difficult to think of Cape Girardeau without a municipal band.

Trumpet player Homer Gilbert so loved playing in the band that he joined at 14 and retired 72 years later in 1998. The band gives many high school and college-age members their first opportunity to make money as musicians, if only $20 a week.

Most of all, the municipal band is part of Cape Girardeau's personality. People sitting in lawn chairs and on blankets at dusk at the Capaha Park bandshell Wednesdays during the summer are one of the enduring images of Cape Girardeau. The band is our own piece of Americana, as important to preserve as a historic building.

Funding for the band now costs the city $23,000 a year, an infinitesimal speck in its $34.6 million annual operating budget.

Hoping for passage of a quarter-cent fire tax in June, the city council is making budget cuts it hopes will send a message to voters that it is being fiscally responsible. A better message in this case would be to show its support for one of the city's institutions.