THIS COMPOSITION, WRITTEN BY W. F. MCBETH, IS BASED ON A DESCENDING MINOR 3RD SCALE COMMONLY USED IN FANFARES. MR. MCBETH COMPOSED AND DIRECTED THE 1980 TEXAS TECH BAND IN THE MAKING OF THIS LP 'MCBETH CONDUCTS MCBETH'. CONVERTED FROM THE ORIGINAL LP
highschool bands
jazz bands
college bands
all region bands
community bands
concert bands
honor bands
interlochen arts academy
marching bands
national music camp
tmea all state bands
university bands
Story behind the song
Francis McBeth is a world-renowned composer and conductor. He was the Trustees’ Distinguished University Professor and resident composer at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) in Arkadelphia (Clark County), where he served as chairman of the Department of Music Theory and Composition. The governor appointed him composer laureate of Arkansas in 1975. McBeth’s compositions include works for all media, but he has been influential in the development of the literature for wind symphony.
Francis McBeth was born on March 9, 1933, in Ropesville, Texas, to Joseph Phinis McBeth, a Baptist minister, and Lillie May Carpenter McBeth. He spent his youth in west Texas, where he began his musical training at an early age, studying piano with his mother and taking up the trumpet in second grade. McBeth has one brother and one sister.
McBeth attended Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) in Abilene, Texas, where he received his bachelor’s of music in 1954. He received his master’s of music in 1957 from the University of Texas (UT) in Austin and was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from HSU in 1971. He also studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
While an undergraduate at HSU, McBeth played in the university band. From December 1952 to January 1953, the band traveled with U.S. Camp Shows to Europe. He served in the military from 1954 to 1956 with the 101st Airborne Band at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and the 98th Army Band at Fort Rucker, Alabama. McBeth married Mary Sue White in 1953. They had two children.
McBeth was appointed band director at Ouachita Baptist College (now Ouachita Baptist University) in 1957. He remained at OBU, retiring in 1996 as chairman of the theory and composition department, resident composer, and the Lena Shepperson Professor of Music. In 1975, he was named composer laureate of Arkansas, the first composer laureate in the United States.
McBeth conducted the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock (Pulaski County) for many years before his retirement from the orchestra in 1973, at which time he was named Conductor Emeritus. During his tenure as conductor, McBeth transformed the ensemble into a professional orchestra with a permanent home, financial stability, and full-time professional players. In addition, McBeth has conducted in forty-eight of the fifty states as well as Japan, Europe, and Australia. He currently resides in Arkadelphia.
