Music Memories Column: Peg Meyer and William Shivelbine

Peg Meyer and William Shivelbine were two influential figures in Cape Girardeau’s music community in the first half of last century.

Peg Meyer was born in Oak Ridge in 1903. As a Cape Central High School student, he began playing the saxophone and formed his first band, which performed in the lunchroom.

He was a riverboat musician during the 1920s, with his band Peg Meyer’s Melody Kings. In addition to performing on excursion boats on the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois Rivers, Meyer’s ensemble performed at the (soon-to-be-repurposed) Broadway Theatre, the Opera House (now Katy O’ Ferrell’s Irish Pub), and dances all over Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky.

He was a band director in Perryville, Mo., in the early 1930s. Eventually, he returned to Cape Girardeau and opened a branch store of the St. Louis Band Instrument Company in 1934. He is credited with starting 55 school bands in Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Northern Arkansas and trained music teachers on how to teach band. In 1973, Meyer published a book titled “The Band Director’s Guide to Instrument Repair,” which is still in use throughout the world.

As a kid hanging around Shivelbine Music Store in the 1970s, I knew Peg as a crotchety band instrument repairman who really didn’t like the young punks banging electric guitars in the sound booth. I was totally unaware of his impact until I read his book “Backwoods Jazz in the Twenties” more than 20 years later.

William Shivelbine poses for a portrait. Among many other musical endeavors, Shivelbine played the organ for silent films at the Broadway Theatre in Cape Girardeau when it opened in 1921.Photo submitted by Steve Schaffner

William Shivelbine poses for a portrait. Among many other musical endeavors, Shivelbine played the organ for silent films at the Broadway Theatre in Cape Girardeau when it opened in 1921.Photo submitted by Steve Schaffner

William Shivelbine was born in Cape Girardeau in 1890. His mother Amelia was an accomplished pianist, and all of the Shivelbine children studied piano. After high school, he attended Christian Brothers College in St. Louis and then studied music at Northwestern University in Chicago. In 1917, he went to Little Rock, Ark., and for two years was an organist at a theater there, during the time of silent movies. He returned to Cape Girardeau and took a similar position at the Broadway Theatre when it opened in 1921.

My Aunt Charlotte Sherfield recalled “Mr. Shivelbine” playing the big, grand organ for the silent films when she was a young girl in the 1920s. In addition to his theater job, Shivelbine was an organist at First Presbyterian Church for 30 years. He served as pianist for most civic organizations in the city and played for the Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and Optimist Clubs. In 1932, he took a teaching position at Cape Public Schools and continued as the band director until 1945. Additionally, Shivelbine was the director of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band from 1932 until his passing in 1949.

In 1947, Peg Meyer and William Shivelbine joined forces and purchased the local St. Louis Band Instrument Co., changing the business name to M & S Instrument Co. Unfortunately, no one is left who would know what type of friendship or relationship the two men enjoyed. Given their visibility and involvement in the community, their partnership would have been a good business move. Later that year, Shivelbine’s son, Leland (“Freck”) joined the business, and the Shivelbines purchased Meyer’s interest.

In July of 1949, after the purchase of Meyer’s share of the business, the M & S Music Store became Shivelbine Music Store, Inc. Peg Meyer continued to work at the store as a band instrument repairman through the 1990s. It remains a third generation, family-owned and operated business to this day.

Steve Schaffner is the director of the Music Academy at Southeast Missouri State University. Previously, he was the orchestra director for Cape Girardeau Public Schools and Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School in Augusta, Ga. He has performed and/or directed in 48 states and 11 countries.