This History of the Disneyland Band goes into some depth. The video below on the left is excellent (if anodyne) and the band’s first recording (way before my time) is on the right. My friend and old boss, Stan Freese, has written a book,  Music, Mayhem and the Mouse: My “Tubazar” Life, which covers a lot of DLB history.

The band’s first two sets were “concerts in the park” in Town Square as Disneyland opened and guests entered and proceeded up Main Street, USA. According to Disney Parks Blog, “Inspired in part by Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri, Main Street recreates the unique charm of small-town America at the turn of the 20th century, filled with hope and optimism.” The concerts were in the turn-of-the-century style of the “Area Background Music” in the video at lower left below combined with marches and Disney Tunes – setting the Magic Kingdom mood and leaving present day reality behind.

The Disney concept of “Atmosphere Entertainment” is to “set the stage” (all Disneyland employees are “cast members”) for this figurative trip back in time. I understand for a while in the early days, “guests” walked through a literal curtain (I suspect cleaning became an issue) underneath this plaque to go “onstage.” My friend, long time conductor of the Disneyland Band (and fine jazz trombonist as is his son, Ryan Dragon), Art Dragon talked about his (and the Band’s) role in creating “atmosphere.”

The present (“new & improved”) iteration of the DLB is at the bottom right. Call me old-fashioned (or just old), but the new, high-energy, highly-choreographed, drum-and-bugle-corps-influenced, band seems a trifle anachronistic on “Main Street” (so does Starbucks – but what do I know).