The 5th California Volunteer Regiment Infantry Band is composed of members from the greater Sacramento and Bay areas who share a love for the kind of music played by brass bands of the 1840's up to the turn of the century.  Our premier impression is that of the 5th California Vol. Infantry Regiment which mustered into service in Sacramento during the Civil War and saw duty primarily in southern California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.  (Follow this link for a complete listing and brief history of all of the California Volunteers).  Civil War era brass bands principally consisted of 12 to 16 members including a 'bandmaster' who typically was a virtuoso soloist and wrote transcriptions of current popular piano sheet music for the band.  The remainder of the band earned the typical $13 a month of a 'private' soldier, maybe a few dollars more if he was a principal musician or soloist.  Although our members do not play on actual period instruments, it is the goal of the band to play authentic music on modern versions of the band instruments of that time.  (see Civil War Bands for a more complete study).  The current 5th California Band has performed for a host of distinguished (impressionist) audiences which include Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Generals Lee, Grant, Jackson, Meade, Sherman, Thomas, JEB Stuart as well as the many other re-enactor units of Northern California.