LT. COLONEL GEORGE S. HOWARD
Leader of the U.S.A. Air Force Band
George Sallade Howard, son of Florence and Hayden Howard, was born February 24, 1903, in Reamstown, Pennsylvania. His father had been a soldier in the Spanish-American War and his Grandfather Howard a member of the Union Cavalry during the Civil War. George, the only son, liked to listen to his father’s thrilling war stories, and they had fought over the Spanish-American battles many times.
Although there was much music around the Howard home, young George Sallade Howard, the only child, didn’t want to be a musician. His mother was a professional pianist and Grandfather Sallade who lived with them was a former bandleader and clarinetist. But George would have no lessons from either of them.
But no one needed to tell Grandfather Sallade that George would some day be a great clarinet player, because he knew it. He knew it by the way George listened to music and by the questions he asked about the clarinet. However no one urged the boy to study music until he was ready.
That time came when at the age of fifteen he entered high school and heard the school band. Rushing home the first day, he announced, “I’m going to be in the band, and I want to play the clarinet. Will you teach me, Grandfather?”
His music-loving family knew that home instruction was not always satisfactory, so they sent him to study under a local teacher. He had more questions than ever to ask his grandfather, but it was many years later when George realized how much help and encouragement he had received from him during his school band days.
From high school George went to Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, having won a three-year music scholarship there. Although his parents were well able to meet his college expenses, George earned all his spending money by playing in the Ithaca Theater Orchestra.
After receiving his degree from Ithaca, George started collecting more sheepskins. He studied at Ohio Wesleyan until he received his A.B. degree, then went on to Chicago Conservatory for his degree of Master of Music. His ambition still unsatisfied, he secured his Master’s degree at New York University and returned to Chicago Conservatory for his doctorate of music.
With all this extensive preparation and an armful of degrees, George Howard at the age of nineteen, began his career in Patrick Conway’s famous band. Five years later he was the clarinet soloist, a chair he held for two years.
Then he left the concert field to become an educator in the music field. He was asked to return to his first college, Ithaca, this time to teach clarinet and saxophone. From Ithaca he went to the second college he had attended, Ohio Wesleyan University, as instructor of wind pedagogy.
As George Howard’s reputation as a leader and teacher spread, he was in great demand. He accepted the job of Director of Music at the widely-known national home for young people maintained by the Moose Lodge in Mooseheart, Illinois. Here the Mooseheart Band under his direction won the Illinois state championship for four consecutive years.
From 1936 to 1942 Howard was Director of Music at Pennsylvania State Teachers College where they proudly tell about his achievements in their music department during that time. Reluctantly they released him “on leave” to the army.
His most satisfying experience came when he was sent to do special service for the United States Army in Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Labrador in 1942. He was given the rank of Captain and told that his job was to build up the morale of the soldiers stationed there. He traveled alone and found a new use for his talents and training.
To quote his own words, “I had always believed that music exerted a greater influence on people than any other type of culture, and this idea was fully verified when I took up my work on this assignment. There were these lonely men, stationed in isolated places, and with no entertainment during the long, sunless, winter hours. It was a fertile field for music’s spell, but it was very difficult at first to arouse their interest and cooperation.”
However Captain Howard’s wide experience had taught him how to make contact with many types of people. Genial, earnest and dynamic, he soon had an audience. He taught them to play on small, basic musical instruments such as the ukelele, harmonica and tonettes. The tonette is a midget clarinet that was very popular with U. S. troops the world over. He helped organize dance orchestras, military bands, and even “barber shop” quartettes.
“After a while,” continued the Captain, “music melted their hearts. Often six or seven hundred crowded into the room to sing together old songs and to learn new ones. Their faces, formerly dull and unresponsive, showed their pleasure and enjoyment. The talent of some of them surprised me. One soldier in Greenland made one of the finest-toned violins I have ever heard from a few strands of wire, some wood and a little glue.”
After Captain Howard had finished his assignment of setting up musical programs in the North Atlantic Command, he returned to Washington, D. C.
In March, 1944, he transferred from the Army to the Air Force as Commanding Officer and Conductor of the U. S. Air Force Band. He took the band on a tour of Eastern Canada and then overseas to England, Scotland and France.
When this unit was disbanded at the end of the war, Captain Howard had proven his outstanding qualities as a musical director. He was given the rank of major and a new assignment, that of establishing an Air Force Band on a permanent basis.
The Air Force had found in Major Howard the one person who could mold the kind of musical organization they wanted. Here was a young conductor of forty years, a recipient of five degrees in Music, who had a background of twenty years in the field of musical education. With his added experiences and achievements in both Army and Air Force music, Major Howard was a well-known man in the world of music. That made it easier for him to assemble a group of outstanding musicians for the new service band.
In 1949 the rank of Lt. Colonel was bestowed upon the Commandant of the now internationally known U. S. Air Force Band.
Colonel Howard is doing what most people would call a super-human job. When he was asked about his vacation, he said slowly, “Vacation. That is something I dream about.”
Colonel Howard rides horseback when he can. He likes to read fiction or to look at television or listen to his large collection of records in his bachelor apartment in Washington. Redecorating his apartment has grown to be a habit with the Colonel. Recently he has had three side walls painted a vivid dark blue and the fourth side a copper tone. The ceiling is white. The Colonel said, “This sounds startling, but it really isn’t as bad as it sounds.”
Colonel Howard’s medals are quite impressive. Among them are the Legion of Merit and the U. S. Army Commendation Ribbon with five oak leaf clusters.
He is the author of many magazine articles and of Ten Minute Self-Instructor for Pocket Instruments. Among his music compositions are: The Red Feather (theme song for Community Chest), American Doughboy, My Missouri, Niece of Uncle Sam, and General Spaatz March.
Lt. Colonel George S. Howard, “Chief of Bands and Music and Conductor, U.S.A.F. Band and Orchestra,” has earned the respect and affection of his musicians and of his public.
