HAROLD BURTON BACHMAN
By Jack Kopstein

In many ways, Harold Burton Bachman’s extraordinary life traces the major currents of the band movement in America. Bachman’s leadership of military, professional, and student bands through countless performances during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century inspired others to dedicate themselves to band music and also created a positive training ground for talented young musicians and composers. His aura of humour, friendliness, and fine musical performance made a national reputation for Bachman that is still emulated and admired even years after his death. Perhaps more importantly, his great strength of character and memory as a dedicated and inspirational teacher rightfully deserve him a place in history as one of the great leaders and true geniuses of band music in the twentieth century.

He was born September 2, 1892, in Atlanta, Illinois and began his musical career in the place of his childhood, Minot, North Dakota. As a young cornetist, he received early training in a number of small circus and local bands beginning around 1903. While attending the North Dakota Agricultural College from 1914-16, he lead the student cadet bands, succeeding his mentor Dr. C. S. Putnam, and played cornet in Bohumir Kryl’s famous band during the summers. On the day that the United States entered World War I, Bachman wrote a letter to Adjutant General Angus Fraser volunteering the immediate recruitment of a band for the North Dakota National Guard. The governor approved the offer, and on November 26, 1917, Bachman’s band embarked for the European theatre. This group later became the 2nd Infantry Band and distinguished itself for fine musical performances entertaining doughboys and dignitaries alike in tours across France. At a concert in St. Nazaire, General Hunter Liggett commented to an aid: “Colonel, that band is worth a Million Dollars to the United States Army.” As the band’s supreme reputation spread over two continents, so did its new name, “The Million Dollar Band.” After the war, Bachman toured his newly incorporated Million Dollar Band annually from Chicago to Florida along the Chataqua Redpath Circuits during the golden era of the professional traveling concert bands. From 1928 to 1942, the band established permanent headquarters in Chicago, playing frequents engagements at Grant Park and gaining a national status from radio broadcasts on CBS and NBC.

As Bachman’s notoriety grew so did the demand for his appearances as guest conductor and clinician around the nation. He took a job as director of bands at the University of Chicago from 1935 to 1942. Despite dwindling budgets and support for the furtherance of band music at Chicago, Bachman made a smooth transition to the world of academics, arguing tirelessly in favor of music education. He was, however, interrupted from this mission by America’s entrance into the war with Japan. In 1942, Bachman was recalled to active duty and promoted to lieutenant colonel to serve as the head of band music in the Pacific Theater. The same year, his National Champion American Legion Post No. 622 Band shined on national radio broadcasts from Chicago and tours in the Mid-West.

In 1948, a mandate for the improvement of band music at the University of Florida by its new president, J. Hillis Miller, brought Bachman to Gainesville as the new director of bands. During a decade of service from 1948-58, Bachman built, at the University of Florida, what many consider to be one of the premiere college bands of the South. The young concert program matured and thrived under his innovative and inspirational leadership and drew many famous bandmasters to conduct the university bands. In 1951, the Gator Marching Band drew national publicity from its concerts on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D. C. and at New York City’s Rockefeller Center during a Veterans of Foreign Wars Tour. In 1953, Bachman brought the prestigious convention of the American Bandmasters Association to Gainesville shortly after his presidency of that organization. He adjusted well to the growing popularity of bands as part of the gridiron pageantry of collegiate football and the Gator Band distinguished itself for innovative drills and fine adaptations of popular and classical music.

Bachman retired from the directorship in 1958, but he was long from ending his influence in the development of American school bands. From 1958-61, he served as the interim chair of the Department of Music at the University of Florida, where he remained a professor emeritus until 1972. A much sought-after guest conductor, contest judge, sight-reading instructor, and clinician at band festivals during the remainder of his life, Bachman became one of the true leaders of the development of the school band movement in Florida and in all corners of the country.

To complement his themes of music education, Bachman produced numerous publications during his lifetime. He co-authored the Smith-Yoder-Bachman Band Method in 1939, which sold more than a million copies during several decades in print. He went on to author two books of band history, The Million Dollar Band (1962) and The Biggest Boom in Dixie: The Story of Band Music at the University of Florida (1968), and a monograph titled, Program Building for Bands (1962). He presented an illustrated lecture, The Role of Band Music in American Culture, to thousands of people at academic gatherings and band clinics during the 1960s and early ’70s. He also published over seventy articles including, most notably, a series on the history of bands in Florida, numerous instructional guides, and biographical sketches of famous bandmasters Henry Fillmore, Victor Grabel, and Albert Austin Harding. He was a member of the American Bandmasters Association serving as its president in 1950-1. He is an inductee of the Hall of Fame in Florida Music Educators Association. Bachman garnered two honorary doctorates (in Literature from the University of Idaho in 1963 and in Music from the North Dakota State University in 1966). He was awarded the Edwin Franko Goldman Citation, the Vandercook College of Music Distinguished Service Award, the National Band Association Academy of Wind and Percussion Artists Award, and the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service Medal.

Upon his retirement in 1958, Bachman donated to the University of Florida his huge private band music library, at the time, one of the most complete collections in the world. He was an ardent spokesman of the need for a larger American band literature. He was a supportive reviewer of new works and positively influenced the publication of many pieces, some of which are dedicated to him, including Colonel Bachman March by Albert Cina. In 1974, Alton Wayne Tipps received his doctoral degree from the University of Michigan with the completion of his dissertation, Harold B. Bachman, American Bandmaster-His Contributions and Influence, based on personal interviews with notable bandmasters and his initial processing of this archive.  Bachman passed away on April 10, 1972, but his legacy lives on in the form of a trust bearing his name which funds scholarships to all qualified marching band students at the University of Florida.

ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY BAND

Each month Altissimo! searches across the country for a community band that has something special about it, whether it be something they’re doing in the community or just an outstanding achievement for the band.

The Asheville Community Band of Asheville, NC, was started in 1979 under the umbrella of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The band’s stated mission was to encourage interest in music and to broaden appreciation of the various musical styles and sounds unique to a concert band. Now, after thirty years of continuous performances with a roster of 102 members, the band has over 90 volunteer musicians at every concert. Members range in age from a few very talented high school age students to active retirees in their eighties including six charter members!

In addition to four local performances each season, the band has traveled as far as Hawaii, Germany, and Austria for concert tours. The Asheville Community Band has performed at national conventions for band directors and twice for the North Carolina Bandmasters Association’s state convention. Upcoming performances include a free (and popular!) Memorial Day tribute, honoring the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. This concert also features the city’s high school JROTC, who present the colors and assist guests with parking.

Several of the band members were involved in the various military branches and about 10 of them played in the bands at their bases.  One is currently in the USMC music program in the school of music at Cherry Point, NC. Another joined the Navy in 1945 at just 16 years of age and played until he was reassigned to an aircraft carrier. Two were members of the US Army Bands during their service, the 316th during the Korean War, and the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii in the 1960s.

The Asheville Community Band enjoys playing a variety of music together. Their conductor, currently Michael L. Robinson (see below), selects the music with suggestions from his band. The repertoire includes hymns, marches, show tunes, band standards, and new music that is fun for everyone! Under his leadership, the band created a scholarship program to encourage and aide students who are pursuing degrees in instrumental music education. Over twenty $1,000 scholarships have been awarded since 1996 to deserving students, the funding of which comes solely through ticket sales and donations.

ACB Scholarship Recipients

Mr. Robinson, the band’s director since 1996, recently completed a 30-year career as a high school band director and is currently the Director of Bands at Mars Hill College.  He continues serving as a church music director, a position he has held for 22-years.  After reading his bio, it’s obvious that music runs in his veins!  Mr. Robinson has been honored with many awards throughout his career. In addition to merit honors, citations of excellence, and involvement with professional music organizations, he has also been President of the North Carolina Band Directors Assoc. and was inducted into their Hall of Fame.

The band’s founder and first director, Patricia L. Garren, is also a multiple award-winning conductor. Now Director Emeritus, Mrs. Garren’s honors include being the first woman elected as President of the North Carolina Bandmasters Association. She received the Women Band Directors International Golden Rose Award and most recently received their highest honor; induction into their Hall of Fame.  Each year, one of the band’s scholarships is presented in her name.

Led by two upstanding directors over its 30-year span, the Asheville Community Band has a rich heritage of excellence. It carries on this tradition by giving eligible students a helping hand via the scholarship program and by giving young and old musicians alike an opportunity to participate in and keep the arts alive in their community. For the quality of their efforts, we proudly present them as the Community Band Spotlight for May 2009.

If you’d like to listen to the Asheville Community Band or find further information, please visit their website.

*Special thanks to the Asheville Community Band and Stephanie Lyon for taking the time to help us write this Spotlight and for supplying photos!

*If there is a band you would like to see featured in the Community Band Spotlight, please email Krista at krista@militarymusic.com with the subject “Spotlight Suggestion”

Interview with Roger McGuire, Pipe Major of the Canadian Scottish Regiment pipes and Drums, Victoria, BC

Q: Tell us a little about yourself.

RM: I was born in Ottawa, Ontario and grew up in the Ottawa area. My father was on staff with the Army Historical Section at the time, where he was primarily involved with the writing of the Official History of the First World War. He had various side interests which included military music, and he was a huge Sousa fan.

He took me to concerts frequently. Seeing as Ottawa is the Capital City, there were lots of touring bands as well as local bands like the Governor General’s Foot Guards.

I also loved going to see the Changing of the Guard at Parliament Hill. In those days, the regular battalions of the Canadian Guards performed most of the time. I distinctly remember asking my mother why there weren’t cymbals in one of the bands marching by. I would have been about three I think. Anyway, the reason was it was the Canadian Guards pipe band! I thought it very strange that a band wouldn’t have cymbals.

The old Auditorium in Ottawa was where I first saw a British Band’s touring show. It was the place where the Ottawa Senators last won the Stanley Cup in 1926, and it was a typical arena of its day, filled, as I recall, with thick smoke.

Anyway, when the bands entered, one of the bass drummers was wearing a white bearskin! It was an impressive and colorful show, the Royal Scots Greys and Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. It was around the date considered the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

A year or so later, the Black Watch came to town. When the band entered the arena, the combination of sight and sound was such that I knew I was going to be a piper one day. I believe there were 23 pipers in the band for that show. The big story of that tour was the fact that 9 pipers left the tour at one point to participate in President Kennedy’s funeral.

My mother was the kind who wanted her boys to try whatever activities interested them. I wanted to be a piper, but I was considered too young. So I became a highland dancer instead, which I continued with until the early teen years.
At ten years old, I finally began taking lessons on the chanter from Pipe Major JT MacKenzie of the RCAF Rockcliffe Pipe Band. He had been pipe major of the 2nd Bn. Scots Guards in the immediate post-war years, and a tremendous individual who was to have a huge impact on the pipe band community of Eastern Ontario. After retiring from the Canadian Forces, he and his family moved to Maxville where he began teaching in the area high school. His autobiography is a great read.

When he retired, I started taking lessons from Pipe Major Sam Scott, wartime pipe major of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. He had a big teaching program going with dozens of students, but he died following a minor traffic accident in about 1972. For a couple of years, I went down to Maxville every Saturday, to take lessons from JT MacKenzie. It was an all day journey through country roads.

I joined a kids pipe band around 1972 called Camp Argyle #26. We were somehow affiliated with the Service Battalion but were not forced to cut our hair. Anyway, we had a great time and even made a trip to Scotland in 1974 and played in the World Pipe Band Championships in Grade IV.

Following my university years in the late 1970s, followed by an extended bout of travelling, I decided to join the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa in 1981. We participated in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 1983. During the show we had to play one 12 minute segment of non-stop marches at 120 for the Lochiel Marching Team.

By 1988 I had moved to Victoria with my wife Sally. I joined the Canadian Scottish Regiment. In 1992 I was appointed Pipe Major. I set about trying to get our band involved in events all over the place. We went to Monterey, California in 1993, which was the beginning of what was to become a long series of visits to California over the next few years.

A tattoo started up in Memphis in 1993 with Major Michael Parker of Royal Tournament fame as producer/director. We were invited to perform the second year. It was a legendary band trip. Unfortunately the tattoo had cost a lot more money than it brought in, and there hasn’t been one since.

In 1997 we were invited to be the guest military pipe band at the Pleasanton Highland Games in California. We were to play some combined band pieces with the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing Band. It was a magical weekend. The audience loved it, and we did a lot of performing together and socially things sparked also.

That was also the weekend that the Princess of Wales died. So one of our pipers played Amazing Grace at the closing ceremonies, and that moment was broadcast throughout California if not across the USA.

Following our performance with the Marines at Pleasanton, the relationship continued, and we performed together many times on both sides of the border between 1998 and 2001. In 2000 we recorded a CD together, but that’s another story.

The Canadian Scottish Regiment performed for the first time at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2004, which is the last time to date that a Canadian band has appeared in this prestigious event. In 2005 the band returned to Holland for the first time since World War II, where we played in the Netherlands National Tattoo.

Personally, I was a member of the Canadian Forces Pipe Band for both the 60th Anniversary of Holland celebrations in 2005 and also the Vimy Ridge Monument Rededication in 2007.

While a Pipe Major, I have also been involved with a society promoting the vision of creating a west coast international military music festival or tattoo since about 1993. Several events took place during 1994 when the Commonwealth Games occurred in Victoria.

Things began to get rolling in 1998 when we were able to stage concerts involving the Prince of Wales’s Division (Clive) Band along with British Columbia bands, and later the US Army Field Band and Soldier’s Chorus. The year 1999 was a particularly good one with concerts by the Grenadier Guards Band, Welsh Guards Band, 1st Bn. The Highlanders Pipes and Drums and a Sunset Tattoo commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the founding of Fort Victoria.

Despite a record of successful events, financial support was slow in coming. With very modest financial support we held a festival for most years between 2000 and 2006. Bands we were able to include are a long list, including a return performance by the US Army Field Band and Soldier’s Chorus, Third Marine Aircraft Wing Band, US Navy Band Northwest, French Navy Pipe Band, Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, Invercargill Caledonia from New Zealand, and numerous Canadian regular force and reserve bands.

With the opening of a new modern arena in Victoria just over 2 years ago, we now have a facility in the community in which to stage a world-class tattoo. Consequently plans for “The Pacific Tattoo” are underway with the intention that the first performance will take place in 2010. Date and venue has not been set, but will be passed along as soon as they are known.

Q. What is your daily band routine?

RM: Owing to financial circumstances, as well as being a “Reserve” band, we rehearse one evening a week for 3 hours.

Q. Do you select the music played for concerts or was it done by committee?

RM: I do it

Q. Are auditions for new band members done collaboration with section leaders?

RM: Yes, we have auditions.

Q. How important are recordings to you and the band?

RM: Not a factor at the moment. Making a CD was a rewarding and time consuming effort, but circumstances have not allowed us to do another recording since we made Canadian Bagpipes, American Brass.

Q. How important to you are the various small ensembles that are often employed?

RM: In our case, we occasionally have the traditional 4 pipers for a mess dinner. Most of the time we are full band.

Q. What is your view on the future of pipes and drums and military bands in the world?

RM: We are in a period of transition for sure. Playing standards are going up, but there are lots of internal and external things that make it difficult to practice and perform as often as we would like. I believe in retaining the traditional elements of performance and dress as well as acknowledging there is a “progressive” pipe music direction going on. At one time you could predict what the first 20 tunes a new piper might learn. Not so today, with a distinctive “civilian” approach. When I started, it was considered mandatory to acquire the Scots Guards manual.
Full dress is an important component of the traditions we are upholding. We have very stringent control over what kit we purchase, and how its to be worn. There is a lot of shoddy items being produced, as buying the best means paying what at times seems extortionate amounts of money.

Q. What type of music do you feel most comfortable with?

RM: Personally I am a fan of traditional military music. Some Jazz, Pop and Broadway is ok, but I’d prefer that it doesn’t dominate a performance.

This may be the opportunity to make a comment about the playing of marches in touring performances or concerts. Seems that they are often viewed as being nothing more than a musical accompaniment for getting the band on or off the stage or parade square. I consider it to be an artistic flaw to cut off a march without playing it in full in anything other than a parade where the music is being used for the marching of troops. In that situations it’s understandable. Otherwise it’s not.

Not so long ago I heard a performance where the narrator gave a 30 second illustration of “Semper Fidelis” which was followed by the band performing the march for no more than 30 seconds and cutting off! (I think I have a tape somewhere to prove it.)

In the brass-reed band world, medleys are another area I’m not fond of. I’d rather hear one or two full selections rather than 10-20 snippets jammed into a 5 minute medley. Imaginatively conceived medleys can be effective, but most medleys leave me cold.

Finally on combined pipes with brass-reed, the feature items are particularly popular with audiences worldwide. With the rising pitch of pipe chanters over the past two decades or more it has become mandatory for bands to consider adopting two differently pitched chanters. “Orchestral” chanters are being manufactured to blend with brass-reed and other instruments. Especially in hot weather, the pipe chanter pitch rises to the point where the “unsuccessful blend” becomes admittedly painful to listen to.

Q. What is your opinion of the world of music today?

RM: Exciting time, for sure. If there is one general thing I would like to see happen though, it’s to see bands not lose sight of their military roots. Marches should be a staple of most types of performance, and light classics. I’ve heard concert performances where the objective seemed to be “let’s show how we could be mistaken for anything but a military band”.

Hello, Altissimo Community!
Memorial Day is coming up on May 25th, and to celebrate, we’ve put together two great deals for you! They’ll only be around through Memorial Day Weekend, so catch these savings while you can!

Great Deal #1: The MMA 3-Pack – This combo includes 3 of the Military Music America albums and is on sale for the super low price $14.97! That’s like getting one CD for free!

Great Deal #2: Memorial Day Combo – This combo features the best-selling album A Hero For Today and Liberty for All, a musical journey of American music from the Revolutionary War to now. Save 30% on these titles by getting the combo!

In Case You Missed It…

Last week, we introduced the Armed Forces 5-Pack, a combo featuring a popular title from each of the military branches!

Check out the combo here!

We’re On Facebook!

We recently created a Facebook fan page, so if you have a Facebook account, we’d love to connect with you there! Click here to become a fan!

Hey, everyone!

Armed Forces Day is coming up on May 16th, and to celebrate, we’ve put together an Armed Forces 5-Pack featuring 5 of our best selling albums*, one from each military branch.

Now through Friday, May 8th, use the Coupon Code AF5 and you can get this great deal for only $47.98 — an over 30% discount**!! Check it out below!

*The Armed Forces 5-Pack
includes:
America! by the US Air Force Band; Music for Honors and Ceremonies by the US Navy Band
Hail to the Chief by the US Marine Band; Always Ready by the US Coast Guard Band
Duty, Honor, Country by the US Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus**The Armed Forces 5-Pack is regularly $74.98

Have a Wonderful Tuesday,

Eric Scism

eric@militarymusic.com

In Case You Missed It…

Here is the latest Disc on Demand release, Celebration and Excursions, both by the United States Air Force Band!! These are two incredible albums, featuring music from some of the most honored composers of the military.

Check out the combo here!

We’re On Facebook!

We recently created a Facebook fan page, so if you have a Facebook account, we’d love to connect with you there! Click here to become a fan!