The Band Concert is a 1935 Disney Short that follows a small musical band, conducted by Mickey Mouse, which struggles through a distraction-filled public performance. Next, Mickey shows up as a Band Leader in the Mickey Mouse Club of 1955.

He also appears in the tell-tale garb in many pieces of merchandise, like this Britto:

But today Mickey returns In the Wild: Disney’s Mickey Band Toy Instruments merchandise:

From time to time I find things in the wild while I am trolling for goodies to add to my collection. Often I will find something that interests me but not enough to buy. These wonderful plastic toy instruments almost had me! If the flea market vendor had had the entire set, it may have been different!

This is a collectible I would leave in the packaging. The graphics are fun and vintage. On the backs you can see the complete set along with a description of how to use the instrument, and in the case of the harmonica, a guide on how to play an actual song. Wow!

According to Wikipedia, the handy info-dump of the Internet, Bontempi is an Italian musical instrument manufacturer, best known for manufacturing low-priced, plastic-cased chord organs, which are small keyboard instruments in which the sound is produced by air being forced over reeds by an electric fan.

In the mid-1980s, Bontempi moved to manufacturing small, home electronic keyboards. The company continues to make low-priced musical instruments aimed at the educational and toy market, much like these early examples.

Want more Mickey Band Leader fun? Check out my Mickey Light Sword or the Leader of the Club sculpture.