Jerry Barnell and His Society Orchestra
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, 5-13-06

The column on local music prompted a reader inquiry about former Amsterdam High School bandleader Gerald P. Barnell, wondering what was the name of his family’s dance band in the 1920s and 1930s.

The family was Italian although the name had been Anglicized from Baranello to Barnell. Gerald Barnell was the youngest of eight children who were raised on Amsterdam’s South Side where their father operated a grocery store and was one of the founders of Mount Carmel Church.

In 1915, brothers Angelo, Charles and Anthony organized Barnell’s Concert Orchestra. The group played for local society, such as carpet mill owner Stephen Sanford plus performances at the New York governor’s mansion, country clubs and Saratoga casinos.

The orchestra disbanded in 1932 when brother Anthony contracted a bone disease. Soon, however, the youngest Barnell organized Jerry Barnell and His Society Orchestra, playing local spots such as Jollyland in Amsterdam.

Gerald Barnell graduated from Amsterdam High School in 1929 and earned a bachelor’s degree at Ithaca College. A violinist, he did graduate work at several universities and the Juilliard School of Music.

He taught for a year at the Cazenovia Seminary and joined the Amsterdam Schools in 1934. He served until 1973 as instrumental director, leading the high school, junior high and elementary bands and orchestras.

In the 1950s, it was Barnell’s inspiration to meld the band with female cheerleaders and baton-twirling majorettes whose signature number became “Lullaby of Birdland,” featuring a Rockette-style kick line. Barnell’s traditions continue today in the performances of the Amsterdam High School Marching Rams. He also organized the first All County Music Festival in Montgomery County in 1956.

Barnell was active in Local 133 of the Professional Musicians’ Union and performed with his family’s Barnell Concert Orchestra and his own Union Orchestra. He had many private students, including popular local performer and music teacher Rachelle Cotugno.

Barnell married Antoinette Morini in 1940. For many years they lived on Phillips Street in Amsterdam. Their son, Jerry, pursued a career as a business educator at Schalmont High School in Rotterdam. His wife, Terri Mikolaitis, was one of Amsterdam’s majorettes in the late 1950s.

After Gerald Barnell retired in 1973, he taught music education at the College of St. Rose in Albany. He died in 1998 and his wife died in 2001.

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