(SOUND OF THE WINDS) PERFORMED MY HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE YEAR IN THE ALL STATE CONCERT BAND, TEXAS MUSIC EDUCATOR'S ASSOC. CONVENTION, CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM F. MCBETH. COMPOSED BY CLAUDE T. SMITH. AN EXCELLANT EXAMPLE OF HIS CONTEMPORARY ROMANTICISM.

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Claude Thomas Smith (March 14, 1932-December 13, 1987) was an American band conductor and composer as well as an educator. Notable among his over 100 band compositions, twelve orchestral works and fifteen choral are "Flight" and "Eternal Father Strong to Save". The National Air and Space Museum has taken the first of these as its official march. The second, titled for the hymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", was a commissioned 1975 piece that premiered at a Kennedy Center celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United States Navy Band.

Smith was born in Monroe City, Missouri, and he died in Kansas City, Missouri. He was educated at Central Methodist University and University of Kansas. His instructional methodologies were codified in band instruction books.