The Professional Career of African-American Bandmaster

Article 19 Research Perspectives in Music Education The Professional Career 18(2), 19-33 © 2016 The Florida Music of African-American Education Association Bandmaster William Patrick Foster Nicholas Thomas, Florida A&M University Abstract This study provides a record of the professional life of William Patrick Foster in a historical context, including the cultural differences and social inequalities that characterized society during his career; and to assess his impact on instrumental music. Foster, an African-American music educator, exerted a lasting influence on his professional field, particularly in the areas of instrumental music and marching band techniques at the secondary, collegiate, and university levels. These questions were posed: (1) What innovations in marching band techniques and advances in music education, particularly instrumental music education, can be attributed to Foster? (2) What contributions did Foster make in the bandmaster community at large, and what was his influence on the culture and development of band programs in African-American communities? (3) What was Foster’s personal influence on the profession in general? Keywords Band, African-American, Conductor, William Patrick Foster, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) “MARCHING 100” Introduction The purpose of this study was to provide a record of the professional life of William Patrick Foster (1919-2011) in its historical context, and to assess his impact on instrumental music, while affecting, changing, and coping with the cultural differences and social inequalities pres- ent during his professional career. The study was based on the hypothesis that Foster, as a music educator, exerted a lasting influence on his professional field, particularly in the areas of instrumental music and marching band techniques at the secondary, collegiate, and university levels. In 1941 William Patrick Foster began his remarkable professional career—a career that his undergraduate music school dean at the University of Kansas said was impossible “because there are no job openings or opportunities for colored conductors.”1 Foster achieved his goal of becoming a band conductor and became arguably one of the preeminent American bandmasters and music educators of his era, along with such legendary bandmasters as William Revelli of the University of Michigan and John P. Paynter of Northwestern University. Foster, as much an administrator as an educator, served as a chair of two college music departments, first at Fort Valley State College2 (1943-44), and then at Florida A&M College3 (now University), where he served as department chair for 49 years (1949-98). From 1998 to 2001 he held the 1 William P. Foster, The Man Behind the Baton. The William P. Foster Foundation, 2001, 2. 2 Ibid., 34-35. 3 Ibid., 55-56. Corresponding Author: Nicholas Thomas, Ed.D., Coordinator, Music Teacher Education, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL, [email protected] 20 Research Perspectives in Music Education Foster-Edmonds Endowed Chair at Florida A&M University. The six decades spanned by Foster’s professional career were momentous for education in the United States. Events such as World War II, the Cold War, the space race, the fight for equality and civil rights of the 1960’s, and the Vietnam War affected the educational processes and systems. This was especially true of governmental rulings such as the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision against “separate but equal” education and the subsequent desegregation of schools in the South. Within this larger educational context, music education experienced substantial change and growth during Foster’s career. In the 1950’s, the position of music in public school curric- ula became much more secure. Stronger elementary and secondary music programs inevitably strengthened collegiate music programs, which in turn produced not only better musicians but better teachers. These trends also benefited predominantly African-American programs, but more slowly and, for several decades, less consistently. These effects were of importance to Foster, as he spent his entire teaching career in the Deep South (Georgia, Alabama and north Florida) and had early struggles to acquire talented musicians, let alone musicians who owned their own instruments. Foster was in many ways a critical figure in the development of instrumental music education. A past president of the Florida Music Educators Association4 (1973-75), Foster also served nationally as president of the College Band Directors National Association5 (1981- 83) and as president of the illustrious American Bandmasters Association6 (1994). Dr. Foster served as the director of the prestigious McDonald’s All-American High School Band from 1980 to 1992. Foster published eighteen articles in professional journals, authored an academic textbook (Band Pageantry: A Guide for the Marching Band, published by Hal Leonard in 1967) and composed four published band marches: “Marche Brillante,” “National Honors March,” “March Continental,” and “Centennial Celebration.”7 This study provides a historical sketch of an American bandmaster who defied what was expected of minority conductors and music educators at the beginning of his era and became one of the leading music educators of his time. The Pre-FAMC Years, 1941-46 After graduation from the University of Kansas in spring 1941, Foster acquired his first position as director of bands and mixed choir at Lincoln High School in Springfield, Missouri. Although faced with many initial challenges, such as recruiting students for a new band and coping with poor instruments, Foster found the principal of Lincoln High to be supportive, offering financial assistance to the best of his budgetary ability. His support was not in vain; by the end of the first academic year, Foster, overcoming many obstacles, had established a band program. At Lincoln High School, Foster’s ingenuity became immediately apparent. He utilized the concept of teaching applied-like lessons to the entire band, and when scheduling allowed, he implemented homogeneous and heterogeneous instrumental family classes, in addition to the 4 Florida Music Educators Association, Florida Music Educators Association Handbook. Florida Music Educator Association, September 2011, 63. 5 Retrieved from CBDNA.org. 6 The American Bandmasters Association, Lest We Forget, Membership History, 2011, Retrieved June 1, 2012 from americanbandmasters.org. 7 William Foster Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 656, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Universi- ty of Kansas Libraries. Thomas 21 full band ensemble rehearsals. In addition, he offered private applied instrumental lessons to interested students on Saturday afternoons for fifty cents. These innovations proved success- ful and the band quickly progressed, as did the choir. In fact, Foster’s crowning achievement at Lincoln High School was the seventy-voice mixed a cappella choir. Earning enthusiastic responses at all their seasonal concerts and community programs, the choir regularly performed on local radio broadcasts. The highlight occurred in the spring of 1943, when the Figure 1. William Patrick Foster, 1943-44 Fort Valley State College Yearbook 22 Research Perspectives in Music Education choir performed by invitation at the Missouri State Educators Association of Negro Teachers Convention in St. Louis and received rave reviews.8 During the Lincoln High School years, Foster also developed a professional relationship with Edward W. Peters, a local musician who would have significant influence over Foster’s teaching career. Peters, a teacher, conductor, and former member of John Phillip Sousa’s fa- mous “Sousa Band,” gave Foster cornet lessons (though Foster’s primary instrument was clari- net) during his time in Springfield. From Peter’s instruction, Foster gained further understand- ing of the principles of tone production, wind articulation and nuance/expression, which he later applied in teaching conducting, brasswind methods, and musicianship pedagogy at the college/university level.9 At the end of the 1943 academic year, Foster ended his two-year tenure at Lincoln High School and moved his family back to Kansas City, Missouri, hoping to forward his career. In August of 1943 Horace Mann Bond, then president of the Fort Valley State College (FVSC) in Fort Valley, Georgia, offered Foster a three-fold assignment as chair of the department of music, director of the Fort Valley State Choir, and assistant professor of music education.10 Foster accepted the offer, only to find the new situation quite dismal. While at FVSC, Foster took up residence in the home economics building, and the academic office provided him was in the university’s main academic building. The academic office was limited in size, furniture, and equipment, as Foster had no telephone, typewriter, tables, or even a piano at his disposal. He also soon realized that, due to the ongoing war abroad, there were few if any male students in the FVSC music department, and that he was one of only two FVSC music faculty members. It is not clearly known why Foster wasn’t drafted in to World War II, as he was only 24 years of age in 1943. Despite the adverse conditions, Foster took pride in the FVSC choir, which was quite active, performing at weekly FVSC assemblies, providing concert presentations in neighboring cities, and taking concert tours around the state of Georgia.11 At the end of the 1943-44 academic year, Foster resigned his teaching duties at Fort Valley State

Load more