THE STATE COLLEGE AREA MUNICIPAL BAND
c/o CRPR Offices, 2643 Gateway Drive
State College, PA 16801

A Brief History

The State College Area Municipal Band had its genesis as a large concert band formed for the 1976 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts by Warren George of the Penn State University Music Department and Richard Victor of the State College Area High School Music Department. The band played on a bandstand built across South Allen Street in front of the former Nittany movie theater. Click here to view the concert program from the 1976 concert.

With the assistance of Centre Region Parks & Recreation, the band continued on to play mainly for summer concerts, under the management of Larry Pharo. By 1981, the band was playing regularly with its first Annual Mothers Day concert and Dr. Daryl Ramsey as its full-time director. He continued through 1982, when he moved to the Univ. of Texas at San Antonio.

During 1983, there were various guest conductors and in May 1984, Dr. 0. Richard Bundy became the full-time director, continuing until November 1996 when Dr. Ned C. Deihl became the director. In 1985, the band started playing its annual "Festival of Marches" each March and around that time started playing regularly for the Kiwanis Club's 4th of July Fireworks display at Beaver Stadium. In May 1987, a highlight of the concert was the guest appearance of Dr. Bryce Jordan in his first appearance as a conductor since his joining Penn State as its president.

An interesting touch to the January 1988 concert was the absence of an intermission so that the audience could go home to watch the Super bowl!

In November 1998, the band formally organized with bylaws, officers, and a Board of Directors, and continued the partnership with Centre Region Parks and Recreation. The band currently has five married couples as members and there are players of all ages from the Centre Region.  New members are always welcome.