It was nearly 10 years ago that Ted Cramer first traveled back in time.

After driving to Indiana County to watch his son rehearse with the Wildcat Regiment Band, the Cranberry resident soon was enlisted to play for the group, which honors the original Civil War band that got soldiers fired up for battle.

"I guess you could say I was drafted into the army band of the 19th century," said Mr. Cramer, who was band director in the Hampton Township School District for 34 years. "And it has been a great experience."

On Wednesday, Mr. Cramer will don a hand-stitched wool Union soldier uniform and present the "Role of the Brass Band during the Civil War" in the Cranberry municipal building on Rochester Road. His presentation will begin at 7 p.m.

The program is part of the "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation" exhibit being presented through Sept. 19 at the Cranberry Public Library.

As the tuba player for the Wildcat Regiment Band, Mr. Cramer joined son Tim, who plays tenor horn with the group, in playing music of the Civil War-era, ranging from patriotic songs and waltzes to polkas and operatic arias.

The brass band, which was in place from 1861 to 1862 before a military order disbanded such musician units, originally was composed of volunteers from Indiana, Jefferson, Clarion, Clearfield and Westmoreland counties.

In addition to performing for Union troops, Mr. Cramer said, band members were called upon to do more unpleasant work as well.

"During battle, once soldiers were injured, the band would be given the order to stack their instruments and help [with medical care]," said Mr. Cramer, 58. "It was the only time in America history that a band would have been used in that sense. ... They weren't equipped to do fighting, so they helped care for the wounded."

After tending to the injured -- which frequently included amputations and crude surgeries right on the battlefield -- the band would conclude the day by playing for soldiers resting around a campfire.

Mr. Cramer said it was soon learned that the band should stick more to playing patriotic songs than ones that reminded the soldiers of the loved ones they were away from.

"They were ordered to not play songs reminiscent of home," he said. "Those songs got the troops too homesick and some soldiers left and went home."

The modern-day version of the band, has traveled to perform in Washington, D.C., and at sites of historic Civil War battles, including Gettysburg; Harper's Ferry, W.Va.; and the Antietam battlefield in Maryland.

From Sept. 26-28, the band will perform shows during the grand opening celebration of the new Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center.

Mr. Cramer became interested in music as an elementary school student after a field trip to a concert by the Pittsburgh Symphony.

As a seventh-grader, he began playing French horn.

In high school, because of his tall stature and strength, he started playing the tuba in the Kittanning High School Marching Band.

"[The band director] looked at me and said, 'I need a tuba player and you're that guy,' " Mr. Cramer recalled. "So that was that."

He pursued a degree in music education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1973. Before retiring from Hampton Township School District in June 2007, he spent four years teaching music in the elementary schools, 13 in the high school and 17 in the middle school.

Retirement has allowed him to spend more time and travel with his family, which includes his wife, Cindy, a retired Pittsburgh Public Schools special education teacher. But he said he has no plans to stop playing music.

He continues to bring music into the lives of youngsters, volunteering each summer at a youth music camp near Lake Erie that is sponsored by the Camping Association of the Presbyteries of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

He also works part time for a company that sells and rents musical instruments to students and school districts in the area.

Mr. Cramer enjoys the work because it gives him a chance to meet young students as they pick up an instrument for the first time and visit with band directors he has known for years through teaching.

He said by learning to read and play music, people learn a universal language that can be enjoyed all their lives.

And, he added, there's no replacement for the feeling one can get from playing music.

"I have always loved music and loved performing. I guess I'm a ham. My wife says it's because I have a big ego," Mr. Cramer said, laughing. "But music is an aesthetic part of life. You can escape the everyday part of life with music, you can go somewhere magical."