From evidence to family discovery

Historical names and identities are surfaced through Oklahoma Musicians’ Was Your Family in the Band? feature and controlled by Oklahoma Band History. Community Bands continues to handle research evidence and synthesis.

Open the family search →

September 15 research expansion

The September 15 research expansion added 103 new source notes after duplicate checking against the existing collection. The source library now contains 219 records.

See the expansion summary · See the research pipeline

219 source records

What do the labels mean?
2025Research article

Pauline Sophie Heck; Wiebke Reinhardt; Andrea Bischoff; Stefan Koelsch

The Role of Active Music Making in Fostering Resilience

An online survey connects active musical engagement with one measure of resilience in its healthy sample.

  • Related music & arts
  • Survey & observational
2021Hypothesis and theory article

Alessandro Dell’Anna; Marc Leman; Annamaria Berti

Musical Interaction Reveals Music as Embodied Language

A theoretical framework considers musical interaction through movement, prediction and shared action.

  • Related music & arts
  • Reviews & synthesis
2024Government statistical report and tables

National Endowment for the Arts; National Archive of Data on Arts and Culture

50 States of Arts Participation: 2022

State-level arts participation estimates provide a broad setting for questions about musical opportunity.

  • Related music & arts
  • Survey & observational
2023Research article

Florian Worschech; Clara E. James; Kristin Jünemann; Christopher Sinke; Tillmann H. C. Krüger; Daniel S. Scholz; Matthias Kliegel; Damien Marie; Eckart Altenmüller

Fine motor control improves in older adults after 1 year of piano lessons: Analysis of individual development and its coupling with cognition and brain structure

A year of piano instruction is examined through motor performance and its relationship to cognition and brain structure.

  • Related music & arts
  • Intervention studies
2023Research article

Damien Marie; Cécile A.H. Müller; Eckart Altenmüller; Dimitri Van De Ville; Kristin Jünemann; Daniel S. Scholz; Tillmann H.C. Krüger; Florian Worschech; Matthias Kliegel; Christopher Sinke; Clara E. James

Music interventions in 132 healthy older adults enhance cerebellar grey matter and auditory working memory, despite general brain atrophy

Brain and working-memory outcomes are examined after two forms of music activity in older adults.

  • Related music & arts
  • Intervention studies
2021Research article

Florian Worschech; Damien Marie; Kristin Jünemann; Christopher Sinke; Tillmann H. C. Krüger; Michael Großbach; Daniel S. Scholz; Laura Abdili; Matthias Kliegel; Clara E. James; Eckart Altenmüller

Improved Speech in Noise Perception in the Elderly After 6 Months of Musical Instruction

Speech-in-noise results from a music trial varied by listening condition and participant group.

  • Related music & arts
  • Intervention studies
2019Research article

Laura W. Wesseldijk; Fredrik Ullén; Miriam A. Mosing

The effects of playing music on mental health outcomes

A large twin study complicates simple claims that playing music either improves or harms mental health.

  • Related music & arts
  • Survey & observational
2012Scholarly book · excerpts reviewed

Lee Higgins

Community Music: In Theory and In Practice

A conceptual account of community music emphasizes hospitality, facilitation and cultural democracy.

  • Related music & arts
  • Reviews & synthesis
2011Professional historical article

Gary Cook

PAS Museum: History and Metamorphosis

An institutional history traces the Percussive Arts Society museum’s development and move from Oklahoma to Indiana.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
2010Peer-reviewed article

William M. Dabback

Music and Identity Formation in Older Adults

Musical identity can develop through beginning, returning or changing instruments, without everyone adopting the same label.

  • Community bands
  • Reviews & synthesis
2009Draft survey report · metadata only

Roger Mantie

A Survey of Community Bands in Ontario

An Ontario band survey draft is listed as a research lead while its published counterpart is checked.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2006Editorial

Timothy S. Brophy

Prolegomenon

A short editorial is retained as a bibliographic lead, separate from the studies it introduces.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
2020Hypothesis and theory article

Andrea Schiavio; Mathias Benedek

Dimensions of Musical Creativity

A conceptual account connects personal creativity with collective musical activity.

  • Related music & arts
  • Reviews & synthesis
n.d.Public-history essay / timeline entry

Carnegie Hall / Timeline of African American Music

Syncopated Brass Bands

Useful contextual lead for African American brass-band lineage from Civil War regimental bands into later public/community performance traditions.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
n.d.Digital collection / primary-source archive

Library of Congress

African-American Band Music & Recordings, 1883 to 1923

Important primary-source collection for African American band repertory, composers, performers, and early recordings; contextual rather than a secondary scholarly study.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
UnknownPublic history profile

Roots of American Music Trail / University of North Alabama

W. C. Handy

Useful lead for African American fraternal-band pathway: Handy directed a Knights of Pythias band in Clarksdale.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
UnknownLocal history article

Kalamazoo Public Library

Military Bands of 19th Century Kalamazoo

Useful lead documenting Kalamazoo Colored Brass Band terminology and local band names.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2026Archival finding aid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Hazen Collection of Band Photographs and Ephemera

Important archival lead for local band photographs and ephemera, including Knights of Pythias Band examples and industrial-school band material.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
2025Academic report/thesis

Unknown

A Música Comunitária em Portugal

Broader community-music framework with explicit banda filarmónica context.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2024Thesis / dissertation

Barbara Wipfler

Frauen/Männer/Blasmusik

Direct or adjacent academic source for community, civic, brass, wind, philharmonic, harmony, fanfare, or municipal band traditions.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2023PhD thesis

Heather Jane Armsby

The Role of Gender in the British Brass Band

Direct or adjacent research source for community, civic, brass, wind, philharmonic, or municipal band traditions.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2022Local history article

Delaware County Historical Society

Delaware Ohio Brass Bands 1800s

Useful lead documenting 'Delaware Colored Brass Band' and local brass-band ecology.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2022Master's thesis / graduate research

Carissa Neil

Community Bands

Directly about community bands; includes literature review and U.S. context.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2022Master's thesis

Eva Margarida Figueiredo da Silva

Banda Filarmónica: Uma Prática Cultural Amadora

Direct or adjacent research source for community, civic, brass, wind, philharmonic, or municipal band traditions.

  • Community bands
  • Qualitative & case studies
2020sArchival collection / research exhibit

Center for Folklore Studies / Ohio State University

The Second Regiment Marching Band Columbus, Ohio

Important lead on a long-lived African American civic band in Columbus, led by a father and son over 70-plus years.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
2019Journal article

Jean-Marc Ramos

La banda del batallón cívico de Talca-Chile

Contextual-to-strong relevance: civic band history with municipal/community implications.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
2012Thesis / case study

Sarah E. Wilson

Rockingham Concert Band

Direct case study of one community band.

  • Community bands
  • Qualitative & case studies
2012Master's thesis

Unknown / Universiteit Utrecht master student

Blaasmuziek & Imago

Direct or adjacent academic source for community, civic, brass, wind, philharmonic, harmony, fanfare, or municipal band traditions.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2009Scholarly report/book PDF

Vincent Dubois, Jean-Matthieu Méon, Emmanuel Pierru

Les mondes de l'harmonie

Direct or adjacent research source for community, civic, brass, wind, philharmonic, or municipal band traditions.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
2007Journal article

Kari K. Veblen

The many ways of community music

Foundational broader community-music framework applicable to community bands but not band-specific.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
2007Colloquium proceedings PDF

Unknown / Cité de la Musique colloquium contributors

Les fanfares en France

Direct or adjacent research source for community, civic, brass, wind, philharmonic, or municipal band traditions.

  • Community bands
  • History, documents & leads
1997Journal article

Don D. Coffman and Karen M. Levy

Senior Adult Bands: Music's New Horizon

Strongly relevant to senior adult band movement and lifelong music making.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
1992Journal article

Roy E. Ernst and Scott Emmons

New Horizons for Senior Adults

Foundational article documenting the creation and first year of the New Horizons Band model for senior adults.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads
1979Doctoral dissertation

Benjamin Richard Compton

Amateur Instrumental Music in America, 1765 to 1810

Contextual early American amateur instrumental-music source relevant to pre-band civic/community music roots.

  • Historical & institutional context
  • History, documents & leads

The 219 records describe source works, not a count of independent studies. See related studies and shared samples.

Photo evidence now in active use

Community Bands now uses the approved historical photographs as part of the research surface, with direct ties back to the archive and the family-level photo page.