St Joseph grade school, near Perham, MN, was typical of country grade schools back in the day. The 2-story brick schoolhouse was staffed with 2 teachers who taught 4 grades apiece. Our class was average in size, the total student count about 45. The class ahead of us had an even dozen, the largest ever (must have been a really cold winter the year that bunch was conceived). It was in 1954 that the 1-4 grade teacher decided to create The Band.
St Joseph Grade School
Dan, a big kid for his age, was the drummer. Bob played coronet, Ronnie was bass guitar player, Don was on the harmonica, and I was lead guitar. We played mostly popular tunes, big band stuff and a few old standards that had withstood the test of time. We entertained at wedding receptions, bingo potlucks and the like.
And I'm the king of Denmark. The truth: we had no musical instruments whatsoever, and our repertoire consisted of 3 simple tunes. Mary Had a Little Lamb was our opener. The music - I use the term loosely - was produced by blowing over the tops of pop bottles, partially filled with water. Yes sir, we were the rompin,' stompin,' St Joseph Grade School Pop Bottle Band! And we had 'uniforms': jeans, white shirts and silly-ass hats made from the bottoms of rolled oats boxes. The hats, covered with green wrapping paper, were held in place with an elastic chin strap. Were we super cool, or what?
We retired from the music business after 2 performances, never having made the Top 40. Hey, we were only 10 years old! And, being farm kids, we didn't have a lot of spare time to develop our musical skills. I had zero interest in learning to play a musical instrument anyway, so no great loss.
Only one of us, Bob, ever played a real musical instrument - which was in, fact, the coronet. He played in the high school band, don't know if he continued playing beyond that, haven't seen him in 5+ decades.
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