The Life and Career of James Edwin Croft Alan W
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 The Life and Career of James Edwin Croft Alan W. Mills Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JAMES EDWIN CROFT By ALAN W. MILLS A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2010 © Copyright 2010 Alan W. Mills All Rights Reserved The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Alan W. Mills defended on 22 July 2010. ___________________________________ Patrick Dunnigan Professor Directing Dissertation ___________________________________ Alexander Jiménez Outside Committee Member ___________________________________ Richard Clary Committee Member ___________________________________ Kevin A. Fenton Committee Member ___________________________________ Clifford K. Madsen Committee Member Approved: ___________________________________ Don Gibson, Dean, College of Music The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii This project is dedicated to the memories of my father Frank Stewart Mills II, his parents Beatrice Mildred Dahl Mills & Albert William Mills, and my mother’s parents Berniece Martha Wilken Lowe & Lauren Harley Lowe. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge several people whose support in various ways made this project possible: Thank you to the members of my committee: Alexander Jiménez for your unique perspective, Richard Clary for pointing the way, Kevin A. Fenton for your gentle and effective example, Clifford K. Madsen for always keeping things simple, and especially my committee chairman, Patrick Dunnigan, who never stopped believing in me and who suggested the topic of this project; little did I know how much it would impact my life. Thank you to my mother and stepfather, Barbara and Gordon Aumann, whose guidance and support of my career has been never-ending. Thank you to my wife’s parents, Colleen and Jug Eastman, who literally gave me their reclining chair because they knew I wrote well sitting in it. Thank you to my wife, Amy, whose love and support is simply immeasurable. Thank you to my daughters, Amber and Alana, who have unknowingly taught me more about how little matters in life unless you can share it with somebody else; and yes… I have time to play with you now. Thank you to Terry and Amy Hathaway for hosting me during my research residency in Oshkosh, WI as well as Robert and Kim McCormick for hosting me during my research residency at the University of South Florida. Thank you to the research assistance provided by the Oshkosh Public Library Staff; Lt. Col. Alan Bonner, USAF (Ret.) National Executive Director Kappa Kappa Psi & Tau Beta Sigma National Band Fraternity & Sorority – NIB Program; Preston M. Ramsey, Alumni Chapter and Colony Affairs Coordinator Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma National Headquarters; John Wagstaff, Head of Music and Performing Arts Library & Associate Professor of Library Administration at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Keith Knop, Assistant Music Cataloger in the Warren D. Allen Music Library at The Florida State University; John Carmichael, Director of Bands University of South Florida; Josh Bula; Barb Weeg, Reference Librarian, The University iv of Northern Iowa; Research Assistants from The University of Maryland: Bonnie Jo Dopp, Benjamin Robert Levy, Kevin Pace, Lori Fowser; Dee Begarly, The Florida State University; Dr. Margaret Downie Banks, Senior Curator of Musical Instruments, National Music Museum, University of South Dakota; Dr. Ken Drobnak, Curatorial Assistant at the National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota; John J. Archibald, Editorial Writer, Oshkosh Northwestern; Douglas H. Henkle; Tina Happ, Business Manager, Council for Research in Music Education; and all who took the time to contribute to the research and content of this project, regardless of whether your contribution made it in the final copy. Thank you also to the following copyeditors: Lisa Mills and Amy Roisum-Foley. Most of all, thank you to Jim Croft for the seemingly endless hours that you spent teaching me about your life and career as well as the time you took to respond to my hundreds of follow-up research questions; your life’s story has turned into my life’s model. On behalf of all of those who have known you, we are forever indebted to you for your contributions to society, both professionally and personally. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. xi 1. INTRODUCTION: PURPOSE AND PROCEDURES ......................................................... 1 1.1 Background......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Procedures........................................................................................................................... 3 2. PARENTS, CHILDHOOD, AND COLLEGE....................................................................... 4 2.1 Parents ................................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 The Elementary and Middle School Years ..................................................................... 7 2.3 The High School Years ...................................................................................................... 8 2.4 The Undergraduate Years............................................................................................... 11 3. TRAER, IOWA........................................................................................................................ 15 4. OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN: LAND OF OPPORTUNITY .................................................. 21 4.1 The OHS Band Prior to Croft ......................................................................................... 21 4.2 Assessment and Plan of Attack...................................................................................... 22 4.3 The Demise of the Marching Band................................................................................ 28 4.4 The Wind Symphonette .................................................................................................. 30 4.5 The Impact of Frederick Fennell.................................................................................... 31 4.6 James E. Croft, M.A. ........................................................................................................ 33 5. OSHKOSH: THROUGH YEAR SIX .................................................................................... 35 5.1 Year Two ........................................................................................................................... 35 5.2 First Child.......................................................................................................................... 36 5.3 Music for Moderns........................................................................................................... 36 5.4 Band Program Developments Year Three.................................................................... 38 5.5 Support from John Paynter............................................................................................. 39 5.6 Composition Contest....................................................................................................... 41 5.7 New Heights of Performance, Including Mid-West ................................................... 43 5.8 Second Child..................................................................................................................... 45 5.9 More Notable Students from OHS ................................................................................ 46 6. OSHKOSH: RECOGNITIONS ............................................................................................. 49 6.1 Growth and Development.............................................................................................. 49 6.2 Mid-East ............................................................................................................................ 50 6.3 Continued Invitations ..................................................................................................... 51 6.4 Growth and Transitions.................................................................................................. 52 6.5 Mid-West Revisited ......................................................................................................... 53 6.6 Contemporary Music Project ......................................................................................... 55 6.7 Jack Jarrett ......................................................................................................................... 56 6.8 An Influence on his Students ......................................................................................... 59 6.9 OHS MENC Performance............................................................................................... 60 vi 6.10 OHS Tour to Europe.....................................................................................................