Next time you’re at a Nevers’ 2nd Regiment Band concert, check out the drummer in the back row.
That’s Priscilla Giles. She’s 86 years old and has spent more than two-thirds of her life tapping the old snare for the Sousa style summer band that you can trace all the way back to the Civil War days. Now that’s pretty old if you ask us (the band, not Giles.) And boy does Giles have some stories to share when it comes to her 62 years in the band. There’s the time she was soaked with water by a N.H. governor’s wife during the christening of the new Tram II at Cannon Mountain. We also have to mention the concert at the court house where she fell backwards off the bandstand.
“Dad said he went to cue her in and all he could see was her legs flying through the air,” said Debbie Lincoln, Giles’s daughter.
In case you didn’t know, Giles is the longest tenured member and has no plans of stopping. She eats, sleeps and breathes the Nevers’ Band and does so for a good reason. When Giles first began playing, it was because of her late husband, Paul, who spent 26 years as the Nevers’ conductor from 1960 to 1985.
“I figured if I ever wanted to see him, I should join the band,” Giles said.
And it’s been a family affair ever since. Lincoln, who was once featured in a Monitor photo as an infant hanging out alongside her drum-playing mom during a concert, is still playing the flute and piccolo after 47 years, and she’s not alone. Many of the Nevers’ Band members have been participating for a long time. George West is in his 46th summer playing the clarinet and Tom Fisk has been on and off with the band since the 1970s, playing every summer for the last 16. Over the years, the band has evolved and morphed into what you’ll see at the summer’s final two concerts – Aug. 12 at Eagle Square and Aug. 19 on the State House Plaza.
“We’re trying to stay current,” Lincoln said. “We’re playing more modern pieces to get the young kids interested.”
While they like to keep the same uniform of white dress shirts and dark slacks, they understand how times have changed and what it takes to keep the audiences coming back.
“We’ve kept a military flavor to the uniform because of the history of the band,” West said.
Along the way, the powers that be added some newer music like the Beatles and Beach Boys, which, for a band that dates back to the Civil War, you have to admit is kind of cutting edge. There are musical scores and sing-a-longs to complement the Sousa-style military sound that the Nevers’ Band is most famously known for.
“There are some carryovers from week to week, but it’s always a different program,” West said.
The band is made up of musicians from all over the state – and all walks of life. Some are retired music teachers like Fisk and Lincoln, while others are budding musicians in high school and college. The rest fall somewhere in the middle, but all share a love of producing quality notes for any and all to enjoy.
“It’s composed of a little bit of everybody,” Lincoln said.
Starting back in June, the band has met each Monday at Concord High for rehearsal. With file cabinets filled with music, the lineup for that week’s performance is always changing, so they never know what to expect. So they’ll spend the evening learning what music is on the docket for that week’s concert, which on many occasions will be the following night. Now we don’t know what you consider large amounts of pressure, but learning a new piece one night and playing it for a live audience the next is something that ranks high on our list of terrifying experiences. Guess that’s why we’re not part of the Nevers’ Band, because each time they seem to nail it.
“You have a quality you have to reach in that rehearsal time,” Fisk said. “And the cleanness that’s being played is impressive. We’re making sure a good quality product goes out each time we play.”
When all is said and done and the Nevers’ Band retires at the end of the summer, they will have played 14 concerts, with most coming in the general area of Concord. But that’s nothing compared to what it used to be like.
“We’d have a schedule where there were 30 concerts,” Lincoln said.
“I remember years where we had rehearsal Monday and then concerts Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights some weeks,” West said.
The Nevers’ Band claim to fame is being one of the oldest continuing musical organizations in New Hampshire and one of the oldest bands in America. It was established as part of the Third New Hampshire Regiment on July 31, 1861, with many of its members from the Concord area. Arthur Nevers, whom the band was eventually renamed for, served as conductor for 56 years from 1884 to 1940. No wonder they named it after him.
Now it’s up to the current members to help keep the band’s history alive and well. That’s why they still play that Sousa style military music and will continue to. But who doesn’t enjoy a little Beach Boys now and again to go with those traditional marches.
“We still play all the old time stuff the band played in the late 1800s and early 1900s,” West said.
So if you haven’t seen the Nevers’ Band play you have two more chances before the summer season comes to a close. Each of the concerts will begin at 7 p.m., and don’t forget to look for Giles. Hopefully she won’t be doing anymore flips off the back of the band stand, but you never know.
“I just think of how hard my husband worked with the band all those years, and I’m just grateful it’s continued,” Giles said.
For more on the Nevers’ Band, visit neversband.org.
