Essays on the Modern Wind Band - Paperback

by Craig Dabelstein (Editor), David Whitwell (Author)

David Whitwell is one of the most influential college band directors of the twentieth century and the author of more than forty books on music, education, history and aesthetics. In this new collection of essays, Essays on the Modern Wind Band, he provides a broad perspective of the American Wind Band from his lifetime of experience as performer, teacher, conductor and musiclogist. Through a series of enlightening and thought-provoking essays, David Whitwell provides his unique opinion on such topics as wind band history, repertoire, ethics, and education, as well as behind-the-scenes stories of band organizations, composers, conductors and competitions. The book concludes with an intimate portrait of his long-time friend, Frederick Fennell.

Author Biography

David Whitwell studied conducting at the Akademie fur Musik, Vienna, with Hans Swarowsky, and with Eugene Ormandy. He has conducted resident ensembles in Austria, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Wales, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Bolivia, Peru, Korea, Taiwan, Russia and the United States, among them the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Radio Orchestras of Brno and Bratislava, and The National Youth Orchestra of Israel. David Whitwell was named as one of six men who have determined the course of American bands during the second half of the twentieth century, in the definitive history, 'The Twentieth Century American Wind Band' (Meredith Music), and he is one of nine men described by Paula A. Crider in 'The Conductor's Legacy' (Chicago: GIA, 2010) as 'the legendary conductors' of the twentieth century.