1 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF FRANK TERRY GREER AND HIS INFLUENCES ON HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY BANDS BY MICHAEL LLOYD SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE DR. MEGAN M. SHERIDAN, CHAIR DR. MATTHEW D. SCHATT, MEMBER A CAPSTONE PROJECT PRESENTED TO THE COLLEGE OF THE ARTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MUSIC IN MUSIC EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 Running head: FRANK T. GREER 2 Abstract Frank Terry Greer was the second Director of Bands at Tennessee State University from 1951- 1972. During his tenure, he developed the marching band to become the nationally known Aristocrat of Bands. The purpose of this historical study was to preserve the history and accomplishments Greer garnered in his illustrious career. Through the research of historical documents and interviews of a former student of Greer’s and the current Tennessee State band staff, this historical study examined who Frank Greer was, how he challenged the norms of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) music programs, and how his work at Tennessee State contributed to the history of the school and the evolution of the Aristocrat of Bands. The findings of this study revealed that Greer not only prepared his school, music department, and band to compete with other HBCUs, but also took Tennessee State’s music program to the national stage, placing them in the same realm as the bigger flagship institutions in America. Keywords: Historically Black College and University, HBCU, Tennessee State University, marching band, Aristocrat of Bands FRANK T. GREER 3 The Life and Legacy of Frank Terry Greer and His Influences on Historically Black College and University Bands The band programs, especially the marching bands, are the cornerstones of many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). According to the U. S. Department of Education: The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” (http://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/) The prestige, traditions, and history of these music programs remains primarily within the HBCU community and many “outsiders” see these performers as regular bandsmen. Despite there being hours and hours of audio and video recordings online, you can only find small portions of the bands’ histories on their schools’ websites. It is even harder to find concise records of any HBCU band’s history as most of the artifacts were not recorded and/or were left unpublished. Therefore, to find the history of most HBCU bands and their directors, you have to visit archives or speak to individuals that were in the band, if they are still living. Need for the Study The majority of HBCU bands where established in the segregated South. There were several adversaries, and even a few laws, that prevented the performances of these Black bands (Watkins, 1976, p. 24). As a result, there was a damper on the publishing and archiving of FRANK T. GREER 4 potential historical artifacts. Most of the history of the HBCU bands has been passed down through the many generations of members within the bands. We understand that through this oral tradition, many facts could be misinterpreted or even fabricated, which could eventually lead to a loss of reliability. At many of these institutions, the founding director and their immediate successor have passed away leaving us with only their students’ memories and their personal artifacts from their experiences in the band as the band’s history. At the same time, many of those former members are getting older and the oral and physical histories of the bands are beginning to disappear. Therefore, it is imperative that we preserve as much information about these historic programs before it is lost forever. In an effort to preserve the history of bands at one HBCU, Tennessee State University (TSU), an investigation of former band director Frank Terry Greer is needed. Greer solidified TSU’s marching band, developed the instrumental music program, and provided an influence on other HBCU bands. As TSU’s second Director of Bands (1951-1972), Greer led the band to many firsts, not just for HBCU bands, but also for collegiate bands nationwide. Greer’s development and success with the TSU band program was accomplished by his focus on two ensembles: the marching, Aristocrat of Bands, and the jazz band, “The Jazz Collegians”. I have a personal stake in the research of Greer, as I am a former member and head drum major of the Aristocrat of Bands. I thought that I was very knowledgeable about the history of the band, so I began to learn about other HBCU bands. Since I have graduated from TSU, I have noticed that in my research of HBCU bands, Greer’s name appears several times as a mentor, teacher, or close friend to many other band directors. I came to realize that the information that was presented to me was just a summary of Greer’s impact on TSU and other HBCU band programs. As a former member of the TSU Band, I believe that the members of the Aristocrat of FRANK T. GREER 5 Bands should be exposed to Greer’s impact to get a better understanding of the history and traditions of the band and university. This investigation on Frank T. Greer’s influence is a continuation of the work present in several published dissertations: Lamar Smith’s (1976) A Study of the Historical Development of Selected Black College and University Bands as a Curricular and Aesthetic Entity 1867-1975, Clifford E. Watkins’ (1976) The Works of Three Selected Band Directors in Predominantly Black American Colleges and Universities, that contains direct quotes from interviews of Greer, and Reginald A. McDonald’s (2009) The Aristocrat of Bands: A Historical Investigation of the Tennessee State University Instrumental Music Program and Its Directors. It is also interesting that two of these dissertations were written by Greer’s successors at TSU, Watkins (1972 – 1979) and McDonald (2001 – now), thus displaying the impact of Greer’s work at TSU. With these three documents serving as the foundation of the investigation, this document will serve as the concise history of Greer’s career and influences on TSU and other HBCU bands. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this historical study is to demonstrate how the work of Greer not only had an impact at TSU, but also spawned the development of other HBCU bands and music programs throughout the country. Greer’s work with the TSU Music Department were first not only for TSU, but for HBCU’s as well as for Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), which are described as colleges and universities that are not deemed HBCUs and/or the institution’s student enrollment is primarily White. This document will also demonstrate the interconnectedness of and increases the awareness of the rich traditions of many HBCU bands. FRANK T. GREER 6 The following questions guided the research: 1. Who is Frank T. Greer and what was his impact on challenging the norms of HBCUs’ music education? 2. How did Greer’s work at TSU contribute to the history of the school as well as the evolution of the Aristocrat of Bands? Methodology To complete the historical research, a dual-structure approach was used in order to examine both the personal life as well as the career of Greer. For the first component of the research, I searched printed and published documents such as books, journals, theses, and dissertations. I visited the campus of TSU for one week to search the archives of the music department, including the Aristocrat of Bands archives, as well as the archives located in the University Library for documentation on Greer. The second component of the research utilized semi-structured interviews. After getting IRB approval, I interviewed the current band directors at TSU: Dr. Reginald McDonald, James Sexton, and Larry Jenkins. I also had an opportunity to interview one of Greer’s former students, Edward L. Graves, Director of Bands Emeritus at TSU (1979-2014). I wanted to interview Clifford E. Watkins, Director of Band at TSU after Greer (1971-1979) and before Graves; unfortunately, Dr. Watkins passed while I was in the IRB approval process. Dr. Watkins death is an example why it is so important to investigate the history of the HBCU bands because Dr. Watkins’ dissertation included Greer’s first-hand experiences and is the main source of this historical document. The interview questions were developed based on the data gathered from the archival research and was approved by my committee members before initiating the interviews. Using FRANK T. GREER 7 the semi-structured interview approach, I had prewritten interview protocols for the interview sessions (Burke Johnson & Christensen, 2014, p. 233). I created two sets of questions: one set for the current band staff and Tennessee State and the other set was for Greer’s former student, Mr. Graves. By applying the interview guide approach, the interview questions lead to more questions, which helped to clear any voids that I found in the documented research. As I interviewed my former teachers as well as a former classmate, Mr. Jenkins, the interview guide approach switched to an informal conversational interview, in which the interviewee and I were loosely conversing about Greer (Burke Johnson & Christensen, 2014, p.