An Interpretation

Hitting all the Right Notes
by Lawrence Herzog

It began, like many great things do, with a dream. Thomas Vernon Newlove had a dream to form a schoolboys band that would become one of the finest in the country. And so he did.

T.V., as he was affectionately called, convened a meeting in November 1935 at the Edmonton Technical School where he was a teacher. He convinced 28 members from the Edmonton Newboys Band - disbanded since 1928 - and the Edmonton Fusiliers Reserve Band to participate and, with 12 new recruits, the Edmonton Schoolboys' Band was born.

The result was an organization that operated for 32 years and reached out to more than 1,200 young men and women. Frank Mathew, who joined in 1936, recalls that the band was a beacon of hope in the dark days of the depression. "There wasn't any other way for a teenage boy to get to travel and play a musical instrument," Frank recalls. He played the clarinet and was a band member until 1942.

Newlove was transferred to McCauley School in 1937 and, even though it was a school "on the other side of the tracks," he managed to scrounge up enough instruments and money to keep the venture afloat. He and his wife Jessie singlehandedly ran the show - training students, organizing concerts and fundraising. It's no wonder the band members came to call him "The Boss."

At the 60 th anniversary reunion in 1996, 30 members formed the Edmonton Schoolboys' Band Alumni and began performing by request. "It's amazing to see people pick up an instrument they haven't much played for 40 or 50 years, and the ability seems to return," Frank smiles.

A lifetime later, there is laughter when somebody tells an old story and a sense of pride and gratitude for the impact of belonging to the band - if only for a few precious years. "It shaped us all," Frank nods. "That's something worth remembering and celebrating."