On April
30, 1996, one of the accordion's foremost exponents, Dr. Willard
A. Palmer passed away. He was a dear friend, a wonderful mentor,
an incredible human being and simply "Bill" to those
in the accordion community who knew and loved him dearly.
The funeral
service took place on May 3, at Memorial Lutheran Church in
Houston, where Palmer directed the choir for many years. Several
of the choral hymns at the service were his own beautiful arrangements.
Rev. Gene Oesch opened the service with these words: "God
called to himself a mountain of a man, one with a big and loving
heart, great integrity and enormous generosity, a wonderful
sense of humor, a man of vision, of faith, richly gifted……"
That was Bill.
The son
of Willard Aldrich Palmer, Sr. and Alma Ophelia Crawford Palmer,
Willard Jr. was born in McComb, Mississippi, on January 31,
1917. He became a world renowned musician, scholar and music
educator. His revolutionary teaching principles were reflected
in 789 of his published works, which included an accordion method,
several piano methods, a method for Hammond Chord Organ, a guitar
method, hundreds of solo pieces and many choral works.
Palmer
was a child prodigy. At 13, he played the piano on the radio.
He studied both piano and accordion which were to form the basis
of his musical endeavors. He attended Whitworth College in Brookhaven,
Mississippi and Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, where
he continued to play the accordion and piano on radio shows
and in ensembles on and off campus.
During
World War II, he joined the Army Air Corps and was stationed
in San Antonio. Here, he taught Navigation, Physics, Mathematics
and German, in addition to performing on accordion as the soloist
with a number of prominent local ensembles.
Palmer's
subsequent accordion career may be divided into three segments
- performer, composer and educator. In each area, he distinguished
himself sufficiently so that others might have called it a full,
successful career in itself. But Palmer always went on to do
more.
After
the war, he and his former student, the late Bill Hughes joined
forces. They can be credited with the high point in accordion
performance in the United States. Audiences will recall their
white-tie-and-tails performances as they played one prestigious
engagement after another in the 50s and 60s. They were the ultimate
inspiration to serious accordionists of the day.
Palmer
collaborated with Hughes in producing a series of accordion
method books which have had world wide impact. Theirs was, and
still is, the largest-selling and most successful accordion
course on the market. Sales soared like a rocket and ran into
the millions, making the duo the cornerstone of the Alfred Publishing
Co. empire.
As an
educator, Willard Palmer was ahead of his time - instrumental
in carving an indisputable niche for the accordion at the university
level. He and Hughes took the accordion beyond mere college
acceptance, into the realm of establishing an actual accordion
department within the University of Houston, where they were
faculty members.
They
pioneered the accordion's acceptance as a fully accredited applied
major, enabling young accordionists to earn both Bachelor's and
Master's degrees with their instrument. In 1946, the first such
study program to be offered at the college level in the U.S. (and
most of the world), was available in Houston under the aegis of
the accordion community's greatest educators, Palmer and Hughes.
Students of their program comprise a "Who's Who for the accordion
field in English-speaking countries, much the same as Hohner's
Trossingen (Germany) did for acccordion education in Europe.
(The
actual first college level accordion program in the United States
was in 1937 at Oklahoma City University with instructor Louis
Ronchetto.)
Palmer
and Hughes formed the "Concert Trio" with virtuoso
contrabassist Len Manno, creating a unique blend of instrument
voices which critics hailed as a new accordion standard. They
did hundreds of concert appearances annually.
They also
founded the "Palmer-Hughes Accordion Symphony", a
superb orchestra which appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Both the "Concert Trio" and the "Accordion Symphony"
captivated audiences with classical works and the melodies of
Broadway musicals.
During
his period as a professional accordionist, Palmer sought to
perfect his yet-evolving instrument and contributed significantly
to the development of the stradella-free bass "convertor"
accordion. He designed the "Palmer Emperor Convertor",
and collaborated with a major accordion manufacturer to achieve
the realization of his creative ideas. As noted educators, he
and Hughes also designed over a dozen student instruments which
conformed to the educational requirements of their courses.
In 18
years as a faculty member of the University of Houston, Palmer
taught music history, music literature and theory, in addition
to all phases of accordion study. He earned Ph.D. degrees in
music education and musicology. He was awarded the honorary
degree of Doctor of Humanities by Whitworth College in 1971
and the degree of Doctor of Music by Millsaps College in 1983.
Dr. Willard
Palmer eventually became one of the most important editors of
keyboard music in the United States. His editions of works of
the masters are highly acclaimed and respected in the most elite
music circles. Palmer is noted especially for his painstaking
detail and care in the scholarly researching of original editions.
He became
Alfred Publishing Company's Senior Editor in 1964, researching
the original manuscripts of the great masters of keyboard literature,
with special emphasis on the study of performance practises
in the Baroque, Classic and Romantic eras. He achieved recognition
as the leading authority on Baroque ornamentation and lectured
on the subject at various colleges, universities and music festivals
throughout the country.
Many of
Palmer's works were translated into German, Japanese, French,
Dutch and Spanish, greatly broadening the scope of his impact
on world music education. He originated the "Alfred Masterworks
Edition" for piano and contributed over 100 volumes to
this scholarly series. With Morton Manus, president of Alfred
Publishing Company and Dr. Amanda Vick Lethco, Professor of
Piano Pedagogy at the University of Texas at Austin, he co-authored
the widely accepted piano method, "Alfred's Basic Piano
Library."
While
achieving accolades for his educational works for other instruments,
"Bill" Palmer remained a steadfast supporter of his
beloved accordion and retained membership in many of the accordion
organizations.
In 1995,
the American Accordionists'
Association brought its Festival to Houston, where Palmer
resided, to pay tribute to the man who did so much for the accordion.
Unfortunately his health was failing, but he rallied to enjoy
the weekend gala for which the accordion community joined forces.
The AAA invited members
of the old Palmer-Hughes Accordion Symphony to re-create their
musical successes of the past in honor of their teacher and
mentor.
A tribute
concert presented musicians from the glorious years of Palmer-Hughes
performance triumphs. The event was followed by a testimonial
banquet the next evening and a "memory lane breakfast"
the morning after. Hundreds of friends and admirers lavished
praise on "Bill", noting his incredible accomplishments.
The mayor
of Houston proclaimed Saturday, July 8, 1996 "Dr. Willard
A. Palmer Day" and congratulatory messages were received
from government officials, colleagues and friends. It was a
memorable and moving event which thrilled the hundreds of accordion
aficionados who attended.
Palmer
will long be remembered as the source of much of today's accordion
development and artistry. He has touched the lives of many generations
of accordionists and his influence will continue as a significant
force long into the future of the accordion which he guided toward
growing public esteem. |
