SIDNEY — The Sidney Civic Band will honor Frank Neville, Jr., director emeritus of the band, during a free concert, July 7, at 7 p.m. on the courtsquare in downtown Sidney.
In the event of inclement weather, the concert will be in the Connection Point Church of God, 1510 Campbell Road.
There is a history in Sidney of community bands that date back to the 1860s. From those years, through some ups and downs, a community band was in place until the Great Depression in 1932. At that time, due to the trouble of finding a regular conductor and funding for the group, the Sidney community bands ceased to be. Founded in 1977 by Richard Reidel, Dick Pope and Frank Neville, the resurrected municipal band became the Sidney Civic Band. Neville directed and led these highly successful concerts for more than 25 years, before retiring in 2002.
Neville’s love for music began at a young age while he was growing up in Sidney. As a student at Sidney High School, he played in his first dance band at 14. He continued to play music with a group of students from the University of Cincinnati, traveling up and down the Miami Valley for concerts and dances.
After graduating from Sidney High School in 1949, Neville attended the Ohio State University in Columbus. He was the fourth member of the Sidney High School class of 1949 to join the Hall of Honor. At OSU, he composed the musical score for the Scarlet Mask university production of “Noah’s Ark.” He returned to Sidney after attending OSU and continued to pursue his love and interest of music and began giving local music lessons.
Neville also began playing with a well-known local band and eventually at Piqua Catholic, Sidney Holy Angels and Lehman Catholic High schools. His highly-decorated high school bands became known for their excellent musical and marching band performances.
After leaving the teaching field, Neville maintained his dance band activities with great success. Neville and his orchestra traveled throughout a seven-state area, performing and receiving recognition from the National Ballroom Association for their outstanding performances.
The Sidney Civic Band owes a great debt of gratitude to “Frank,” as the members of the band call him, for his perseverance, support and all he did with and for the band over those 25 years. Paul Workman, then of Anna, a well-known musician in the area, took over the leadership of the band. A few years later, when he retired, the Rev. Phil Chilcote and school superintendent Mike Trego co-directed the band for a year. The following year, Chilcote continued as the sole conductor and artistic director of the band.
In the concert honoring Neville, Chilcote said he wishes that the band could play all of Neville’s favorites, but time will not allow that to happen. He has picked out a variety of music that Neville and the audiences really enjoyed. The band is planning to play these marches: “Men of Ohio,” “Vilabella Concert March” and “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.” Featured selections will include “Tiger Rag (Hold that Tiger),” “Yak Sax,” featuring JR Price, and “Trombone Country,” featuring the trombone section. Lighter selections include “Mr. Sandman,” “What I Did for Love” and “That’s Entertainment.” Medleys and longer selections will include, “Kazachok,” “The Good Old USA,” “Big Band Favorites” and “The William Tell Overture.” The concert will conclude with “God Bless America” and our national march: “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Chilcote said that he is really looking forward to showing gratitude and honor to Neville, who passed away Aug. 2, 2016. The music line-up, he believes, is a fitting tribute to a man, who for many years, was known as “Mr. Music” in Sidney and the surrounding counties.
