Seven musicians stand behind six white podiums, and behind them are two more musicians — all wearing authentic lederhosen.

For four hours each of the three nights of the Seymour Oktoberfest, the Schulhaus 4+3 German band can be found performing on the stage on the far west side of the festival grounds.

They have been in that location for around 20 years, but the band has been a part of Oktoberfest for 44 of the 46 years.

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“When we started out the first year that we played — the third year of the festival — I wouldn’t have dreamt that it would have lasted this long,” said Steve McGrew, the only founding member still playing with the band.

It just wouldn’t be Oktoberfest without the group.

“There’s a lot of people, you look out every year come Thursday night, and you’ll see them,” said Ron Duncan, who has been a part of the group since 1979 and plays drums. “Friday night, you’ll see a few more different ones. What’s amazing is the number of people that come every night. These same people come every night, they sit down and they enjoy it. … Their Oktoberfest isn’t complete unless they are here.”

For the first two years of Oktoberfest, the festival’s board brought in an out-of-town German band to play because there wasn’t one locally.

Then the board asked McGrew to put a band together. He was a music teacher for 38 years and served as the director of bands in Seymour.

The group, which mainly features current or former music teachers from the area, has become a staple at the city’s most popular event.

For the first few years, McGrew said they played on a flatbed trailer in front of the Elks lodge.

Then they were moved to the other end of West Second Street on a flatbed trailer until they secured the stage they still play on today.

“This is ideal,” McGrew said. “It’s getting a little small now, but it’s because we’re growing.”

During this year’s festival, the band played from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday on the German American Bank Stage on West Second Street.

Today, they will play from 2:30 to 4 p.m., which draws a lot of the Seymour High School band students who come by for some fun after marching in the parade. Some of them will participate in the polka and Chicken Dance contest at 3 p.m.

Then Schulhaus 4+3 will return to its regular music lineup from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. McGrew said the group has around 380 songs in its songbook and plays about 100 of them each night.

“We always play fun stuff (for the high school band kids), so we kind of skip some of the other stuff,” Duncan said. “Then when 6:30 rolls around, we’re right back on that same list again.”

Richard Branaman, director of bands for Brownstown Central Community School Corp. who plays the tuba in the band, said he always likes performing on the last day of the festival.

“You get invigorated Saturday after the parade when all of the young kids are here dancing and they are having fun,” he said. “You just feed off of all of their energy.”

Branaman also likes seeing people dance during the contests.

“You see some of the little kids come out here that are just so cute and they have so much fun, and then other people dance and have fun,” he said. “What’s better than bringing joy to people?”

Ted Sharp, a psychologist in Columbus who plays the trombone in the group, said he likes seeing everyone smiling and having a good time.

“The little children, younger children, they are not very self-conscious, so they will get up here and dance. I enjoy that,” he said. “Just the whole atmosphere here is always happy. People seem to enjoy the music, so that feeds us.”

For the music teachers in the band, Oktoberfest gives them a chance to catch up with former students who stop by and listen to the music.

“Oktoberfest is kind of like Seymour’s homecoming for the city, so we who have been around the schools a long time, we see students that we haven’t seen since last year’s Oktoberfest and maybe for 10 years,” McGrew said.

“It’s just a lot of fun to look out and see faces you recognize, and as soon as you look out and see a face you recognize, then you get lost, so you can’t really do that,” McGrew said, smiling. “Even though we’ve played these songs hundreds of times, you don’t trust yourself to look away very long.”

Being in the background, Duncan said that’s not a problem for him.

“That’s for you guys up front. I don’t read the music,” he said, smiling. “I can just look around, and I’m the only one that gets to do that.”

The members also are friends and get along, so that makes the experience even more enjoyable.

“I started playing as an adult in the middle ‘80s, so I was a little rusty, and all of the rest of these guys have a music degree, but they are really supportive,” Sharp said.

Branaman said when he joined in 1987, he had just graduated with a performance degree, so he was able to go right into being onstage.

“These guys are great to hang with,” he said. “I see people that I went to school with. I see some of my students, some of my parents, lots of family. There are some of my relatives that I see once a year, and it’s here. They stop by and say hi. You can’t go wrong with music.”

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For the 44th straight year, the Schulhaus 4+3 German band is playing during the Seymour Oktoberfest.

Today will be the last opportunity to hear the band from 2:30 to 4 p.m. and then from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. on the German American Bank Stage on the far west end of the festival grounds near Second and Walnut streets. That includes playing music during the polka and Chicken Dance contest at 3 p.m.

Band members

Richard Branaman (director of bands for Brownstown Central Community School Corp.), tuba

Ron Duncan (former music educator in Seymour), drums

Steve McGrew (former director of bands in Seymour), clarinet

Ellen Mirer (assistant director of bands in Seymour), clarinet

Dick Parman (former director of bands in Brownstown), trombone/euphonium

Tom Polley (former music educator in Seymour), cornet

Ted Sharp (psychologist in Columbus), trombone

Russell Smith (director of bands in Shelbyville), trumpet

Keith Stam (choral director at Seymour Middle School), accordion and vocals

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