Ed Pierce

Ed Pierce - Music Director Emeritus, Narrator, Vocalist and Baritone Horn Player. Ed directed the Palmyra-Eagle Community Band from 1994, the year after its founding, to December 31, 2023. He now serves as our artist in residence. He is a 1971 graduate of WSU Whitewater with a B.S. in Music Education. In 2003 he was inducted into Wisconsin Band Masters Association, and in 2004 he was inducted into Phi Beta Mu Professional Band Directors Fraternity. He was Lebanon Band Director for 35 years, and the 2011 winner of John Philip Sousa Foundation's award for Most Historic Community Band with the Lebanon Band. He's been a guest conductor in 5 states, as well as soloist on four recordings of the 1st Brigade Band--Watertown, WI, an organization which performs on original antique instruments at historical events and community celebrations all over the state.

Ed is an historian of military music and was President of Heritage Military Music Foundation for 9 years, Soloist for Time-Life Music Civil War Treasury Collection and guest speaker and soloist for the Governors Reception for the Lincoln Bicentennial at the Executive Mansion in Madison, Wisconsin.

Two of Ed's proudest moments as director of PECB were planning and creation of our CD "The '40s: A Sentimental Journey" and accepting the "Honor Flight" Service Medallion from Mark Grams, Dodge County Veterans Service Officer representing the Wisconsin Honor Flight.

The CD project was inspired by a performance by PECB at an ice cream social and concert hosted by the Eagle Historical Society on July 10, 2011 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Almost 30 veterans from WWII were publicly honored for their service to this nation at that concert.

The Service Medallion was awarded on March 15, 2013 after Ed donated 200 copies of the band's CD to Grams. The CDs were included in each "mail call" pack for each veteran on the Honor Flight. The Service Medallion is only given to special supporters of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. The band had the privilege of playing for an Honor Flight reception on September 21, 2013. The CD

Locally, he was the founder of The Harmony Cornet Band for Old World Wisconsin and also has directed specialty music programs for Old World. He directed the St. Paul's Lutheran School Band in Fort Atkinson, and has inspired many 5-8th grade students to strive for musical excellence, as well as inspiring us old students at the PECB! Mr. Ed became a published author in 2014 with his The Prairie Lawyer and the Clarinet Player: The Role of Music at the Gettysburg Address. He was named the 2014 Bandmaster of the Year for his distinguished work by his colleagues of state-wide band directors at the annual banquet at the State Music Convention.