The Municipal Band
of Charlottesville, Virginia — Music Directors
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Music Director
Steve Layman, the Band’s seventh music director, is a native of Toledo, Ohio. He received his undergraduate degree in Music Education from Ohio Northern University and his Masters in Music from the University of Kentucky, where he was a tuba student of Rex Conner. Mr. Layman joined the Municipal Band as a tubist in the summer of 1977 and became the Band’s first chair trombonist in 1987. Mr. Layman served as a band director with the Albemarle County schools from 1977 to 2008, serving as band director at Walton Middle School for eight years and Western Albemarle High School for twenty-three years. His Western Albemarle concert and jazz bands consistently received superior ratings at district, state and regional competitions. He has also served as a brass clinician and concert judge in Virginia and Kentucky.
Mr. Layman directed the University of Virginia Symphonic Band and Brass Ensembles between 1984 and 1990, and he is a member of the adjunct music faculty at Piedmont Virginia Community College teaching trumpet, trombone, baritone and tuba. As a brass performer he has performed with the Charlottesville University and Community Symphony Orchestra, the Heritage Repertory Theater, the New Lyric Theater, the Oratorio Society of Charlottesville-Albemarle, the Richmond Symphony, the Sentimental Journey Big Band, and the Virginia Consort Festival Orchestra. He served as the Municipal Band’s assistant director between 1985 and 2007.
Gary H. Fagan was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland, where he remained until
graduation from high school. He completed his undergraduate work at Bridgewater
College with a degree in Music Education in 1973 and began teaching middle and
high school choral music in Louisa County, Virginia. He attended James Madison University in
Harrisonburg, Virginia from 1974 through 1977, receiving a master’s degree in
music education. In 1975 he became a
band instructor in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he continues to teach at
J. T. Henley Middle School with his wife, Phyllis, who is the choral director.
In 1989 Mr. Fagan was elected Central Virginia
Outstanding Middle School Teacher by the University of Virginia Chapter of Phi
Delta Kappa. In 1999 he received an
Outstanding Educator Award from the Virginia Governor’s School for the Visual
and Performing Arts and was listed in the 2000 edition of “Who’s Who Among
America’s Teachers”. He was also named
Educator of the Year in 2001 by the Piedmont Council of the Arts in Virginia. He is active in the Music Educators National
Conference and the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association. He is a member of A.S.C.A.P., the National
Band Association, the Percussive Arts Society and Phi Beta Mu International
Bandmaster Fraternity. He is a
percussionist with the Charlottesville Municipal Band, having played with the
group since 1977. He is active as a band
clinician and adjudicator in addition to composing and arranging for band.
He has had thirty-four compositions for band
published by Heritage Music Press, MSB Publishing Company, Grand Mesa Music
Publishers, Daehn Music Publications, Ludwig Publishing and Alfred Music
Publications. Seven of these pieces have
been performed at the prestigious Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in
Chicago. One was performed at the White
House several years ago and at the inauguration ceremony for former Governor
Douglas Wilder in Richmond, VA. His
biography and compositions are listed in the Heritage Encyclopedia of
Music. He is currently under contract
for future publication with Alfred Publishers.
Charles J. Torian is a native of Hampton, Virginia.
He holds music degrees from Frederick College in Portsmouth and from
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
He is a former member of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C. He held positions playing oboe and English
horn in the Norfolk (now Virginia) Symphony Orchestra, the Knoxville Tennessee
Symphony Orchestra, and the Frederick (Maryland) Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he had a twenty-five year
teaching career in public school band and choral education, teaching in Hampton
and Lexington, Virginia as well as Knoxville, Tennessee.
Charles is currently the Music Director at Aldersgate United Methodist Church
in Charlottesville, where he and his wife, Theresa, share leadership
responsibilities for eight choirs and instrumental ensembles. He is a freelance composer and arranger of
band and choral music, writing also for various instrumental ensembles.
Charles is the owner of Hummingbird Music, a small music publishing
concern. In addition to playing oboe and
English horn in the Municipal Band he enjoys genealogical research,
photography, fresh-water fishing, and raising standard dachshunds.
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James W. Simmons assumed the position of Music Director of the Municipal Band on February
1, 1980 and was the Band's sixth music director. A native of Charlottesville, Simmons
graduated from Lane High School in 1947, received a B.S. in Music Education in
1951 from Concord College, Athens, West Virginia and a M. Ed. in Music
Education from the University of Virginia in 1959.
In 1956 Simmons became band director at Albemarle High School in
Charlottesville, a position he held until 1971, during which time the Albemarle
Band consistently received "superior" and "excellent"
ratings at festival competitions. In
1971 Simmons was appointed Fine Arts Coordinator for the Albemarle County
Public Schools, a position he held until his retirement in 1984.
Simmons was active in the Virginia Band & Orchestra Directors Association
and the Virginia Music Educators Association.
He is a past president of both organizations and was honored by VBODA
for his "many years of contributions to the improvement of instrumental
music in the Commonwealth of Virginia".
Simmons also served as Editor of VEMA's official publication
"NOTES".
Simmons began playing in the Charlottesville Municipal Band in 1946 and has
served on two occasions as President of the Band's Board of Directors. He was appointed Music Director of the Band
in 1980, and during his twenty-six year tenure the Band increased in both
membership and musicianship, playing many concerts both in Charlottesville and
in surrounding communities and across the state, attracting overflow audiences
everywhere it played. Jim retired on
December 31, 2006. He conducted his
final program at the Band’s Spring Concert on April 24, 2007.
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1957 – 1980 Sharon Bernard Hoose, an Illinois native who
received his musical training at Illinois Wesleyan University, became the
Band’s fifth director in March of 1957 and served in that capacity for
twenty-three years. He had been a member
and baritone horn soloist with the Band at the time of his appointment. Mr. Hoose also served as director of the Lane
High School (now Charlottesville High School) Band from 1941-1974, after which
he continued as Coordinator of Music for Charlottesville Public Schools until
1980. He earned an outstanding
reputation throughout the state of Virginia for his leadership in public school
music. He was frequently asked to be a
contest adjudicator and guest conductor for all-state, all-regional and
all-county bands in Virginia, adjacent states and the District of
Columbia. He was a co-founder and past
president of the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association and also a
past president of the Virginia Music Educators’ Association. It was at Mr. Hoose’s recommendation in 1957
that the Municipal Band’s Board of Directors first offered membership to
women. Mr. Hoose developed the Band’s
musicianship to a level that placed it in the forefront of amateur municipal
bands. He was the Band’s Director
Emeritus until his death in 1985 at the age of 73.
1950 – 1957 Marlin L. Brown came to
Charlottesville from South Dakota, where he had been a public school band
director. He was a clarinetist who received
his musical training from Sioux Falls College.
During his tenure as Director, the Municipal Band became the official
band of the Charlottesville Fire Department, representing the city and the
department at State Firemen’s Conventions throughout out the state for many
years. The Band often received first
place trophies in recognition of its concert performances and marching at these
events. After leaving Charlottesville,
Mr. Brown returned to his native South Dakota and retired there, returning to
Charlottesville in 1997 to conduct the Band as a part of its 75th
anniversary celebration.
1941
– 1950 Emil Rada was
a former clarinet soloist with the U.S. Marine Band before retiring from the
organization and moving to the Charlottesville area in the early 1940s. Mr. Rada was a conservatory trained musician
who performed with a number of military bands and prominent symphony orchestras
and who played for five U.S. Presidents and a number of foreign royalty,
including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England in 1939. Mr. Rada was an “old school” musician who
programmed concerts featuring marches and classical transcriptions. On occasion he would also perform solos
accompanied by the Band. Mr. Rada died
in 1961 at the age of 73.
1940
– 1941 Ernest G. Carr was
a clarinetist with the Municipal Band.
He was asked to serve as Interim Music Director for a year following
Harry Lowe’s retirement.
1922
– 1940 Harry Lowe, a
native of England, was a cornetist who came to Charlottesville from New York
City, where he had gained extensive musical experience playing on Broadway in
theater orchestras, pit bands and Vaudeville.
He was responsible for initially training many of the charter members of
the Municipal Band in how to play their instruments. Mr. Lowe was a popular conductor, beloved by
the Band’s members and the community alike.
He often would pick up his cornet and play along with the Band as he
conducted from the podium. Mr. Lowe died
July 27, 1947.
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The Municipal Band of
Charlottesville, Inc.
P.O. Box 6563
Charlottesville, Virginia 22906-6563
Telephone 434-295-9850
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© 2008 – Board of Directors, The Municipal Band of Charlottesville, Virginia, Inc.
Page was
last modified Wednesday, July 02,
2008