The 4Ks and fifty years of musical memories
My time with the 4Ks was relatively short, and I wasn’t party to the early chapters at all. But since my Mom asked me to tell the story ... what could I say?
For those of you who have no idea what I’m even talking about, the 4Ks was an orchestra – though not in the classical sense, where the term usually includes “symphony” or “philharmonic” and implies dozens of musicians playing oboes and tympani and cellos and piccolos.
Nope. Time was that an orchestra was simply a group of musicians, playing a variety of instruments, providing music for listening and dancing pleasure. And if anything sums up the half century history of the 4Ks ... they made music you could dance to. Which folks all over Central Alberta, especially the Estonians who settled in the Stettler area, did for about fifty years.
My name is Hal Kerbes. From the day I made my debut in the Stettler General Hospital (Good Friday, 1957), the 4Ks had a direct impact on my daily life & my future ... because at any given time in history, a significant number of those Ks were Kerbeses. My family. Through the eyes of a child, I watched Mom & Dad head off to play at those weddings and dances. My sister, Annette, & I became “4Ks” ourselves in the ‘60s. Through countless weddings, parties and New Years’ Eves, I learned what it meant to be a musician – how to plan the dancing at a wedding, play popular tunes, staying up waaaaay too late, eat New Year’s Eve dinner at 5:00 AM. But mostly, I learned how it meant contributing your skills to your community.
It’s been twenty years since age and a changing world transformed the 4Ks from popular dance band to fond memory, but that doesn’t change five decades of history ... so come back with me to the beginning.
At the dawn of the 20 th century, millions of people left Europe in search of a better life, betting their future on a mystical land called Canada. Thousands of those pioneers came from Estonia, and many of them settled in the newly minted province of Alberta. They cleared the bush on a homestead, built shelter, planted crops, survived that first bitter winter .... and created a community. It was a typically balmy Alberta day in January of 1910 when my grandparents, Jaan & Anette Kerbes, with their children John, Elizabeth and Rosanta (Rose), stepped off the train in Stettler (the next sibling - Elvine – wisely waited until that April to be born). On a homestead in the Wooded Hills district, not far from the Red Deer River west of Big Valley, this branch of the Kerbes family tree put down its roots and grew; the next child – Albert – arrived in February of 1912. The seven members of the family worked hard, and not much changed until the spring of 1922, when my dad, Elmer Kerbes, was born.
Canada was now well established. Automobiles were becoming common place. First nations families no longer turned up unexpectedly on the homestead; electricity & running water were within reach, and maybe the fact that survival wasn’t the first priority any more is why Elmer was encouraged to do something that his people had always valued and enjoyed.
Elmer made music. He sang, and he could coax a tune out of any instrument you put into his hands. Elmer was the kind of musician seen rarely in a generation; a great ear, a mechanical knack for the horn, the ability to charm the crowd with music ... and my dad, along with other members of his family, was at the heart of the community’s music.
Before the 4Ks evolved, the Riverside Revelers were breaking musical trails; in the mid 1930’s, Albert Kerbes on his C melody sax & drum, Carl Nicklom on a soprano sax and Beth Kerbes on piano played at Whetzel and Fenn Schools. It was fun, and it was a hobby. By that time twenty-something Albert was a farmer, his sister Beth was helping look after the chickens and the house and Elmer was staying with sister Elvine in Castor to finish high school, where he became smitten with the saxophone. And it was evident that he had more than a little musical skill.
It wasn’t long before Bert & Elmer Kerbes, their cousin Helen Kerbes and friend and neighbour Charlie Klaus began to play together on a regular basis, and in the late 30s, the 4Ks Orchestra was officially born. In Erskine, Alberta, in December of 1939, an historic event occurred – the marriage of Cora Clark and Stanton Pooley was the first of hundreds of weddings to be celebrated by dancing to the music of the 4Ks.
In those early days, the 4Ks used to practice on Sunday afternoon. Charlie Klaus remembers more than one chilly hike over to Kerbes' farm. It was “only a mile,” but making that hike through snow up to his knees sometimes made it seem a lot longer. But then there were those idyllic summers of a time long gone, when the highlight of any week was to go out to Buffalo Lake and dance the to 4Ks. Warm July air, a clear, starlit sky, water lapping softly at the shore ... which happened to be right under the orchestra. Especially if it had been a rainy June. The group also played every two weeks on an open air stage at Content Bridge, and since in those days weddings weren’t just on Saturdays, they might play three or four times a week in any one of the dozens of community halls in the region. Elmer would listen to new music, at a nickel a song, on the Wurlitzer - the pay-for play record player that had begun to appear even in small town cafes & restaurants. After hearing it a few times, he’d write the chords and lead line on a napkin and make the music happen at the next dance.
Elmer Kerbes playing two saxophones.
In 1950, a young school teacher, fresh out of Normal School, arrived in the Wooded Hills territory as a temporary replacement. She boarded at a farm in the district, and became acquainted with the youngest member of the family. In 1954, Marguarite Gilday & Elmer Kerbes were married in a double ceremony with Albert Kerbes & Rose Nicklom ...and the 4Ks got a permanent pianist in the bargain.
Youthful exuberance prevailed, and there were many times when Elmer & Bert had to shovel snow while Marguarite drove the car through a drift blocking the road, because they had to play at a dance. Then they’d shovel again to get home, sometimes traveling through fields because road was impassable. The 4Ks’ popularity continued to grow, and for decades they played all across the province, but most of their music was made in central Alberta. Certain occasions – New Years’ Eve and Halloween, Sports Days for Elks, Valentines Day for the Royal Purple, Athletic Association Dance, the Ice Carnival – were special dates reserved for Big Valley. But in Erskine, Great Bend, Botha, Stettler, Castor, Rimbey, Red Willow, Rumsey, Trenville, Byemoor, Delburne, on Rochon Sands and the Farmer'sPicnic at Buffalo Lake, at Carter's Hall, at graduation dances at Big Valley, Alix, Delburne, Stettler ... the 4Ks were on the stage, making the music that made dreams come true on the dance floor. The 4Ks orchestra became an important component of any wedding celebration. Rituals evolved over the years .... traditions such as having the guests at a wedding dance form a circle around the bride and groom to sing “For they are Jolly Good Fellows” which was always followed by presentation of the money collected by passing the hat amongst the guests. Everyone was happy to contribute a dollar to help out the newlyweds, whether toward a honeymoon, or to help with the expenses of their new home.
The most popular venues for a 4Ks dance was always at the heart of the Estonian community ... Linda Hall. It was, and still is, a sturdy, practical facility which been upgraded many times over the years.
The 4Ks’ other regular haunt of was Spinler’s Hall in Big Valley ... and it was something else altogether. One of the most infamous dance halls in Central Alberta in the middle years of the 20 th century, its main floor was a pool room, where the young men of the district wiled away the hours trying to sink a ball in the corner pocket. But more important to the social life of the region was the second floor dancehall.
Mom remembers New Years’ Eve at Spinler’s, when lunch was served at midnight at the restaurant up the street; by the time people got back to the hall - sometimes not until 2 am - they were ready to celebrate some more and had the energy to dance all night. But what everyone mostly remembers about Spinler’s is its notoriously “springy” floor. The building was torn down years ago, but I have vague memories of being a little kid, at the back of the stage during a dance, falling asleep to a rhythmic vibration like a train or a ship ... but it was actually the floor shaking. In later years, poplar logs were propped up in the pool hall to support the dance floor – which made playing pool even more difficult, - one pool player reports that during a dance the pool balls danced on the tables whenever folks were dancing upstairs. My mom says they eventually had to stop playing the bunny hop due to concerns for public safety, and with a coal heater at either end of the hall, she had nightmares about the floor collapsing and the heaters and orchestra ending up on the top of a fiery heap.
The 4Ks was not made up exclusively of Kerbeses. Although Bert and Elmer and their saxophones were always the core of the orchestra, they always needed a drummer. Charlie Klaus, who bought a set of drums for the staggering sum of $250, was the first, and was followed by Glen Viger, Sharon Nicklom and Dorothy Klaus. Helen (Kerbes) Mulligan was the first pianist, then Archie Kerbes and Lil Prudden took over until 1951, when Marguarite (Gilday) Kerbes joined the family ... and the orchestra. Any dance band worth its salt had a singer, and over the years the 4Ks had Helen Kerbes, Rudy Nicklom, Lillian Gabriel, Hal Kerbes and Annette Kerbes at the microphone. Claude Blair from Delburne played trumpet with the group for a time, and Ross Annable sometimes played guitar.
Still, because Elmer & Marg & Bert were always there, the 4Ks and the Kerbes family became interchangeable over the years, and both the family & the orchestra were very active in the community. They hosted events such as the West Bonspiels and golf tournaments, they provided the sound equipment and announcements for Farmer's Union, Elks, Royal Purple and Legion events; they instigated and provided equipment for log sawing, nail pounding, horse shoes and rolling pin (Queen of 4 AM ) contests that were a big part of events such as the Legion Raft Race.
In 1966, another change came with the formation of a Community band in Big Valley. Calgarian Art Dee was the first conductor; Lloyd Harris took the reigns in 1968, and some of the 4Ks shared their talents. Dad took on the new challenge of playing the sousaphone, Mom learned saxophone and that’s also when I first took up the trumpet. Annette joined three years later playing the clarinet, and the whole family traveled with this marching band to play in parades in Delia, Rocky Mountain House, Bashaw, Byemoor, Stettler and Red Deer. In 1974, the Community Band led the parade for Homecoming, then the Kerbeses quickly changed uniform so that the 4Ks Orchestra could play at the end of the parade. Marguarite Kerbes eventually became the Band Director, and Big Valley’s Community Marching band continued to be a source of pride for many years. During that period Mom (Marguarite) also taught piano lessons and classroom music, and of her students during that twenty five years continued their music as teachers or performers, winning top honors at Stettler and Drumheller Music Festivals.
Annette & I came very late to the 4Ks, and in the scope of 50 years of music-making, our time was a relative drop in the bucket. But I still remember looking up at the stars through the unfinished roof of the Big Valley’s Jubilee Hall in 1964 as the 4Ks prepared to play. I remember that first New Year’s Eve dance I played ... being handed a crisp $10 bill for playing from 8:00 until about three in the morning. I remember playing “second generation” wedding dances, and of course the group played 25 th anniversaries for many folks who’d had the 4Ks at their wedding - in a couple of cases they even played 50 th anniversaries. As the crowds waltzed and schottised and butterflied to their music, the 4Ks saw many a romance blossom on the dance floor ... and maybe one or two that ended there as well.
But time passes. Things change. My sister and I both moved away from the area long ago. Annette studied music for a time in Calgary, but then discovered her interest in things technical and went to NAIT. She has called Edmonton home for many years now; she and her husband, Michael Berry, both work for Dow Chemical. They volunteer for their community and their church and keep very busy getting 8 year old Alexander to gymnastics and music lessons and hockey and tap class.
I’ve been in Calgary since 1974, and have spent most of the last thirty years working in theatre; my wife (Kathryn) and I have a theatre company, we work in film & TV and on stage and produce interactive mystery dinner theatre. Our eldest daughter, Sarah, just finished her third year in the Drama department at the University of Victoria. Our 14 year old, Hannah, plays violin and studies voice, and was able to go with me to New York this past winter .... fuelling her conviction that she belongs on Broadway.
And the 4Ks? ... with us kids gone, and with the original members of the group growing older, the charm of loading up a car full of gear and heading out to play a dance till all hours of the night began to pale. The 4Ks played their last wedding dance – for Alfred and Joyce Klaus - at Linda Hall in 1981; from that time on, their music making became less and less frequent.
Many of original 4Ks are gone now. My dad passed away in 2001 and Uncle Bert has been gone since January of 2004. Mom is now happily ensconced in her condo in Stettler.
The farm where the music of the 4Ks took root is quiet & still; in many places saplings and grass are covering the evidence of a century’s labors, and the last piano on the place probably hasn’t had a note played in a couple of decades.But the music of the 4Ks lives on ... every time my nephew, Alexander, plays piano for me, I hear his grandfather’s songs. Every time my daughters sing, I’m reminded of the times my sister & I shared the microphone for a duet.
And in that funny way life has of coming full circle ... these days I spend every other summer weekend in Big Valley. Our company produces mysteries & musicals in association with the Alberta Prairie Rail Excursions. For the past couple of years, my daughter Sarah has been a member of the troupe, as we carry on the tradition of making music, entertaining tourists who come for the thrill of an old-fashioned train experience ...
...very much like the one that brought my grandparents to this little corner of the prairie almost a century ago.
Hal Kerbes
