SCHOOL ORCHESTRAS IN KANSAS

ECHOES from our ORCHESTRA PAST

By Larry Williams

 

One of the very first  “Kansas State-Wide Orchestras”  organized to perform for the 1966 MENC Convention held in Kansas City.

 
Bob Hollowell, Howard Halgedal and several WSU faculty members put together a group of our State’s best high school musicians to play for the event with Wichita Sym/WSU maestro, James Robertson, as conductor. 

The program began with Brahms, “Academic Festival Overture,” and the finale was Ron Nelson’s “Jubilee.”

At the closing chords the audience literally leapt to its feet!  I remember, as a young teacher at my first MENC, being extremely proud to be part of this Kansas music tradition.

Also performing that year on the program was a huge orchestra (110+ players) from Wichita East under the direction of Ken Thompson.

ECHOES from our ORCHESTRAS PAST  # 2

Kansas’s orchestra history may have been influenced by some unlikely sources.  Would you believe a saloon and some street musicians?    

Besides the many church musicians who settled the Kansas territory, many instrumentalists found their way to various towns.  By the late 1870’s many towns built Opera Houses for musical and theater events.    But in the Southeast and Southwest some unique musicians arrived hoping to make a living with music. 

           The Pittsburg area pit mines drew many immigrants to the area, many of Italian descent.  A newspaper story from Fort Scott in 1863 told of Italian street musicians in the community playing flute, violin and harp.  In order to make a living they also taught music lessons to anyone who wanted to learn.  

            A few years later, on the far side of the state, a traveling musician named Chalkley Beeson was performing at a famous Dodge City saloon.  Liking the town and wanting to settle down, he bought the Longbranch Saloon in the early 1870’s.  A few years later he brought in more musicians to help entertain the customers.
Roy Drake, Harry Adams and “Professor” Miller joined Beeson to provide a small band, and they also began teaching lessons.   In 1879, the famous Cowboy Band was organized and directed by Beeson. 

         From these early days, music literally grew in all parts of Kansas.  Instru- mental music was very popular in the saloons.  Street musicians and folk musicians added to the growing number of ensembles in many communities.  In addition to bringing the vocal music tradition to the area, religious groups also brought pianos and organs to the state.   Band and orchestra instrumentalists were also added to   church music.  Small orchestras sprung up everywhere. 

        With this mixture of music, Kansas culture blossomed unlike anything seen or heard of in the surrounding Plains states.    

       

ECHOES from our ORCHESTRAS PAST  #3

For 62 years the Chicago International Band and Orchestra Clinic has been inviting select high school instrumental groups to come to Chicago to show their musicianship and perform new publications out for school orchestras and bands.

The first Kansas group ever invited to perform, was the Lawrence High School Orchestra in 1972.  The orchestra was directed by Larry Williams, Ann Carson, district string teacher, and Ed Bartley, director of bands, a strong orchestra supporter.  The 92-member symphony orchestra performed at the Clinic’s last year at the old Sherman House Hotel.  In 1973 the Clinic moved to the Chicago Hilton Hotel.

The second Kansas group was Ken Geoffry’s Shawnee Mission East Symphonic Band, which was followed shortly by a large Hays High School Orchestra directed by Dean Angeles.  Later, Lynnita Harris took a Lawrence High School String Orchestra and, more recently, Ingri Fowler took the Wichita East High School String Orchestra to two appearances.  The Kansas City Youth Symphony also appeared with a majority of that orchestra being school musicians from Kansas.  

The purpose of the Chicago Clinic has been to introduce new publications from the previous two years, and showcase some of the best school orchestras and bands in the country.  The directors of chosen orchestras must select the majority of the program from new publications.  Most orchestras perform some favorites from traditional literature and finish with a major composition highlighting the talents of the group.

The only new music from that first LHS program that has lasted is the Leidig arrangement of Sibelius’ “Second Symphony, 4th Movement.” One of this writer’s favorites was a jazz version of “Rainy Days and Mondays,” arranged by Schaefer.  The opener was “Dovetail Overture” by Muszynski, a winner of the NSOA Composition Contest, and the concert finale was Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.”