See the program for this event

     On May 14, 2015, the 2015 Karl L. King Band Municipal Band of Fort Dodge, Iowa was in concert at the 88th annual Iowa Bandmasters Association State Conference.  The Iowa Bandmasters Association is an organization of more than 1,100 members.  Typically, more than 800 members attend this state conference annually, with more than 1,500 participants performing concerts or presenting clinics during this three-day celebration of the finest bands in Iowa.  This year's conference was held at the Downtown Marriott Hotel in Des Moines.

     It is indeed a tremendous honor for the Karl L. King Municipal Band and the City of Fort Dodge to be invited to perform for such a prestigious audience, commented conductor Jerrold P. Jimmerson.   This appearance will give us the opportunity to acquaint a new generation of people to the wonderful music of Karl King.  This will be the fifth time that the Karl King Band has appeared at the annual state conference, having previously performed in 1977, 1981, 1991, and 2007.

Click to watch the band play the IBA March. (51 mb MPG file)

The IBA MARCH Published in 1958, the IBA MARCH was dedicated to the Iowa Bandmasters Association.  Howard E. Akers was a noted composer, conductor, teacher, and trombonist closely associated with college bands and theater orchestras.  After serving as a Marine during World War II, he taught at several colleges and high schools in Illinois, New York, California, and Washington.   He later was an editor for Carl Fischer Music from 1955 to 1963, and served as a conductor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.  In a letter written to then IBA President Ivan Kennedy (1957-58), Mr. Akers announced he wished to donate one-half of the money received from royalties, performances, recordings of this march to the Iowa Bandmasters Association, and suggested having these amounts given to the Major Landers Scholarship Fund.  This march was played by the Bandmasters at the convention that year, and published copies of the march became available that summer.

The program continued with Mannin Veen, the Tone Poem by Haydn Wood.  The title translates to ``Dear Isle of Man,'' the British island, situated in the Irish Sea, that Haydn Wood spent most of his childhood.   Using four Manx folk songs from this heritage, Wood paints an enchanting tone poem that begins with the theme, The Good Old Way, and continues with  The Manx Fiddler, Sweet Water in the Common, and finishes with a fine old hymn, The Harvest of the Sea.

Atlantic Zephyrs, by Gardell Simons, was performed by Dan Cassady, accompanied by the band.  The title of this song suggests the airiness of a gentle summer breeze with the quality of being fresh, light, and breezy.   You may watch Dan perform this tune as part of the March 15th concert.

The Sinfonians, a symphonic march by Clifton Williams, was commissioned by the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.   This is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music.   The tune opens with an extended fanfare introduction before the horns state the familiar Sinfonian theme: "Hail Sinfonia!   Come, brothers, hail! "    Williams conducted the first performance at the music fraternity's national convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, in July 1960.  At this performance by the King Band, The Sinfonians was conducted by Dr. David Klee.

Prince Charming, a selection composed by Karl L. King, was published 100 years ago in 1915.    Karl King programmed it in 1921 with the Fort Dodge Municipal Band as part of their historic Corn Palace concerts in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Next on the program was Jive For Five, the tune which featured the members of Jive For Five Brass Quintet, made up of Tim Miller and David Swaroff on trumpet, Kathy Yoakam on French Horn, Dan Cassady on trombone, and Paul Bloomquist on tuba.

Click to watch the band play Walsenburg Galop.   (35 mb MPG file)	The WALSENBURG GALOP was published in 1915 when Karl King was directing the Sells Floto-Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows, and named for the town of Walsenburg, Colorado.    The galop was traditionally one of the most important selections of all the music played in the circus.  Designed primarily to follow clown acts or fast moving animals, galops made things that were moving fast seem to move even faster!
Click to watch the band play Emblem of Freedom.   (54 mb MPG file)	The march Emblem of Freedom was dedicated to Karl King's friend Robert D. Hamilton.    It was one of the earliest written by Karl L. King, who was probably 17 years of age at the time. Mr. King played this march frequently with his own Fort Dodge Municipal Band.  When asked which march was his finest, he usually replied EMBLEM OF FREEDOM.