Paul William Whear (November 13, 1925 – March 25, 2021) was an American composer, conductor, music educator, and double-bassist.

Life and career

Whear (full name Paul William Whear^[1]) was born in Auburn, Indiana, and studied at Marquette University, the Catholic Jesuit University in Milwaukee where he received the B.N.S. After service as an officer in the U.S Navy, he attended DePauw University School of Music in Greencastle, Indiana, where he received the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, and Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he received the Ph.D.^[2] He received the Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Marquette University in 2002.

He taught theory and composition at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, (1952–1960) as well as at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, where he was chairman of the music department (1960–1969). He and his wife, violinist Nancy Robinson Voiers, played in the Lincoln Symphony during this time. Later he became a professor at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where he also was composer in residence and conductor of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra and the Huntington Chamber Orchestra. He retired as emeritus composer and conductor and received an honorary doctorate at Marquette University. He also taught theory, composition, and orchestration courses at the National Music Camp (now Interlochen Center for the Arts) in Interlochen, Michigan (1969–1988).

He appeared as a guest conductor in the United States, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. As a composer he won many prizes and distinctions, including a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Huntington Hartford Fellow residence, numerous ASCAP Awards, and numerous McDowell Artist Colony Fellowships. He is listed in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, and was named "one of America's Top Ten Composers for Band In Fanfare Magazine (1963). For 60 years he conducted numerous band and orchestra clinics at the annual Midwest Musician Educators' Conference in Chicago. His works have been performed by leading orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Rochester Civic Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Lincoln Symphony, Charleston Symphony, the U.S. Navy Band, the U.S. Naval Academy Band, the U.S. Military Academy Band (West Point), and the Band of the Coldstream Guards, London.

Whear died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 95.^[3][4]

Writings

• 1960. "Problems of the Small College Band". Music Educators Journal 46, no. 4 (Feb.–Mar.): 76–78.

Compositions

References

• Anderson, E. Ruth. Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary, second edition. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982. ISBN 978-0-8161-8223-7. (First edition, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1976. ISBN 0-8161-1117-0)
• Berger, Kenneth Walter. Band Encyclopedia. Kent, Ohio: Band Associates, 1960.
• Bierley, Paul E., and William H. Rehrig. The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music. Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991. ISBN 0-918048-08-7.
• Bly, Leon Joseph. 1978. "The March in American Society". PhD diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
• Bull, Storm. Index to Biographies of Contemporary Composers, vol. 2. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974. ISBN 0-8108-0734-3.
• Copyright Office, The Library of Congress. 1950. Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Volume 4, Part 5A, Number 1: Published Music. Washington, DC: Copyright Office, The Library of Congress.
• Frank, Paul, Burchard Bulling, Florian Noetzel, and Helmut Rosner. Kurzgefasstes Tonkünstler Lexikon - Zweiter Teil: Ergänzungen und Erweiterungen seit 1937, fifteenth edition, vol 1: A-K. Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen, 1974. ISBN 3-7959-0083-2; Band 2: L-Z. 1976. ISBN 3-7959-0087-5.
• Hedges, Bonnie Lois, and Bonlyn Hall. "Twentieth-Century Composers in the Chesapeake Region". In Twentieth-Century Composers in the Chesapeake Region: A Bio-bibliography and Guide to Library Holdings. Richmond, Virginia: Chesapeake Chapter Music Library Association, 1994.
• Press, Jaques Cattell. Who's Who in American Music: Classical, first edition, New York: R. R. Bowker, 1983. ISBN 978-0-8352-1725-5.
• Press, Jaques Cattell. ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers, fourth edition. New York: R. R. Bowker, 1980. ISBN 0-8352-1283-1.
• Smith, Norman E. Band Music Notes, revised edition. San Diego, California: Niel A. Kjos, Jr., 1979. ISBN 978-0-8497-5401-2.
• Suppan, Wolfgang, and Armin Suppan. Das Neue Lexikon des Blasmusikwesens, fourth edition. Freiburg-Tiengen: Blasmusikverlag Schulz GmbH, 1994. ISBN 3-923058-07-1.

External links

• Paul Whear Music Scores at the Library of Congress