Great bands of America

by Alberta Powell Graham

While continuing his teaching this energetic young man conducted many series of band concerts in the New York area. He liked this work, but he was surprised and disgusted at the lack of systematic and adequate training among bands. They played in a haphazard way, trying solely for volume and noise. Goldman had always felt that this great difference between band and orchestra playing should not exist. He determined to form a band and train it in accordance with his own ideals. This had been his real reason for leaving the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra.

For a long time Edwin Goldman had envisioned a band with great wind instruments of much power, yet rivalling an orchestra in delicacy of tone and style. Now he hoped to form an organization of fine musicians and direct them in the production of great works played in this symphonic manner.

Few people sympathized with Goldman’s ideas. Most of those to whom he confided his plans assured him that he could never succeed. But Edwin Goldman had great faith and unlimited persistence. His first object was to collect the best available players of wind and percussion instruments, and with them raise the standards of bands and band music.

Having assembled his quota of chosen men, Goldman, as manager and conductor, founded the New York Military Band. (A few years later this name was changed to The Goldman Band.) With this group he put into use the methods, and ways of directing which he had learned from the great conductors under whom he had played at the Metropolitan Opera House. Goldman directed each player as if he were giving him private lessons. He marked instructions in red ink on their music scores, even telling them when to breathe. At first, the men objected to his strict supervision. “He treats us like kindergartners!” they said. Goldman held long, careful rehearsals which many of the players resented at the time, but later they found that a man trained by this expert teacher could become a welcome member of any first-class symphony orchestra.

By his own efforts Goldman collected a fund of $50,000, and in 1918 on The Green of Columbia University, The Goldman Band opened its first season of free summer concerts. This new Symphonic Brass Band was a distinct success. The newspapers praised it highly and people by the thousands flocked to the concerts. A few years later Columbia needed The Green for new buildings, and the band concerts were given on the Mall in Central Park three nights each week. On two nights weekly, concerts were played in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

In 1924 Daniel Guggenheim took over the costs of the concerts, making them a gift to the city of New York. The necessary money is now donated by the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation. The Goldman Band has given many programs in other parks, other cities and even in Canada.

An interesting new feature was initiated on the Goldman Concert program on the Mall in 1925—an Annual Music Memory Contest. For twelve consecutive years Aaron Gold, a middle-aged, leather craftsman, from the Bronx, won the first prize in this event. This music lover claimed to have gained all his musical knowledge through his attendance at the Goldman Band Concerts.

The Goldman Band, one of the first great organizations to play over the radio, was chosen to play on NBC’s opening program, November 15, 1926. This band is said to have had a greater listening audience than any other musical group.

In 1930 Dr. Goldman founded the American Bandmasters’ Association made up of all the prominent Band Conductors of the United States and Canada. The members elected Goldman their first president and some years later he was made honorary life president. This influential group has become a power in upholding the ideals of band music so long desired by Dr. Goldman.

At first bandleaders were obliged to use orchestral scores of the great masters’ compositions, rearranged for band instruments. Only expert musicians could make such arrangements successfully and it was an expensive procedure. Early in his career as bandleader Goldman had written to every living composer of note asking them to compose music for the band. “At first they all thought it was a joke,” said Dr. Goldman with a chuckle, “but now, more band music is written than can be used. A number of famous men, such as Grainger, Holst, Copland, Shostakovitch, Milhand, Gould and others, have been contributors to the repertoire of band music.”