| Mark Hindsley |
He began playing cornet at the age of ten, and by the age of twelve he was a member of the family orchestra, country Sunday School orchestra, the city Sunday School orchestra and the city band. Accompanied by his sister Pauline, he was active as a cornet soloist in church, school, and other community events. Mr. Hindsley studied with Oliver Aukerman on three occasions before he was enlisted in the Navy prior to entry into World War I. In the fall of 1921 Mr. Hindsley enrolled as a chemistry major at Indiana University with a county scholarship. In 1925 he earned the bachelor degree in chemistry "with high distinction" at age 19. He was also a member of Alpha Chi Sigma and served as the historian and editor of the chapter newsletter for one year. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa during his junior year. In both 1925 and 1926 he was one of five students selected to represent Indiana University before the state board in the finals for the Rhodes Scholarship. He served as president of both the Indiana Club and the Indiana Club Men, of which he was also business manager. He was a member of the YMCA cabinet and a charter member of the Indiana Beta chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national college social fraternity. While attending Indiana University, he was first chair cornet and student assistant director of the Indiana University Band under the direction of Archie Warner. He also played string bass and trumpet in the university’s orchestra under the direction of George Schlafer. During this time he continued to play in the Sunday school orchestra and at church services; additionally, he served as conductor of the Sunday school orchestra. As a senior he organized his own dance and concert orchestra that played many campus and area engagements. He composed "Indiana Loyalty" and a song for the Indiana Club. He was also a charter member of Chi Gamma Tau, a honorary local band fraternity, and he later went on to become an honorary member of the national college band fraternity Kappa Kappa Psi in chapters of Oklahoma State University (Alpha), Texas Tech University, Michigan State University, Midwestern University and the Vandercook College of Music. At Midwestern University he was made an honorary member of the Tau Beta Sigma chapter. After he graduated from IU, he accepted a position directing the university band. One year later he was appointed an instructor in music. During this time that he pursued a degree of Master of Arts in music and completed it in 1927. He studied trumpet with Leslie E. Peck from the Metropolitan School of Music in Indianapolis from 1926-29. During his years as director of IU bands he formed and conducted a stage orchestra within the university band. He played many engagements with theater and dance orchestras, including a one-month engagement on tuba, doubling trumpet, with the former Franklin Night Owls in the summer of 1926. As a member and director of the Indiana University, he appeared on every Big Ten-football field, and made a special appearance at Harvard University in 1927. Mr. Hindsley was married on August 26th, 1926 to Helena Alberts from Remington Indiana, an Indiana University student. They had three children: Harold E., Marilyn, and Robert W. In the September of 1929 Mr. Hindsley also attended the Sherwood School of Music in Chicago where he studied conducting and band techniques with Victor Grabel. In September 1929 he became director of instrumental music in the public schools of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His work at Cleveland Heights included organizing classes for eight grade schools, co-ordinating bands and orchestras in three junior high schools, and conducting bands and orchestras at the high school level. When he accepted the position, the 18 students were enrolled in band and eight in orchestra; under his direction enrollment grew to 135 in band and 85 in orchestra. After only three years the top band won the championship of Greater Cleveland in the concert division. In 1932 Hindsley attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen Michigan. There he taught drum major and marching techniques; he played first chair cornet in the camp college band, directed by Albert Austin Harding and performed with the camp college orchestra on string bass. While at Interlochen he studied band administration and repertory with Mr. Harding. In 1933 the Cleveland Heights band won first division ratings in concert, sight-reading, and marching categories at the national contest in Evanston, Illinois. In January 1934 Hindsley was selected by The School Musician magazine as one of the ten most outstanding music directors in the United States.
In August of 1942 Hindsley was commissioned captain in the Army Air Forces, assigned to duty as Music Officer of the Air Force Flying Training Command in at Fort Worth near Houston, Texas, and he was later assigned to the consolidated Air Force Training Command which also included the Technical Training Command. While in the service he supervised the organization and functions of more than 150 Air Force bands and other music activities on all bases in the Command. He held the first military band clinics, one each in the Eastern, Central, and Western combined Flying and Technical Training commands. In 1945 at the end of World War II he was assigned to the music faculty of Biarritz American University in France where the student body comprised over 2,000 military personnel. He conducted band and orchestra and taught conducting, as well. His groups performed many concerts for students, faculty, and the French community. He was awarded an Army Commendation Medal, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was released from active duty in April of 1946, and retained reserve commission until 1955 when resigned his commission. Hindsley resumed his duties at the University of Illinois in the summer of 1946. That year he was elected president of the College Band Directors National Association that was formed in 1941. He was the chairman of the committee on and the principal author of the Association’s long-standing Declaration of Principles. Later he served as chairman of the committee of published band music, and served as a member of many other committees. In September 1948 Mr. Hindsley was appointed Acting Director of Bands at the University of Illinois, and Director of Bands and Professor of Music in 1950. As Director of Bands his duties included conducting the Concert Band, teaching graduate courses in Band Administration, Advanced Conducting, Band Literature, and Band Arranging. Among his accomplishments were band pedagogy books, many journal articles, and an evaluation system to select and evaluate current published band literature. He assisted in the planning of the new Harding Band Building, which was completed and occupied in 1957, then later oversaw the building's dedication in 1958. In 1956 he was elected vice-president of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and became president of the association in 1957. In March of 1956 he co-ordinated a tri-partite band-related event on the University of Illinois campus: dedication of the new Harding Band Building, the 68th Anniversary Concerts of the Concert Band, and the annual convention of the American Bandmasters Association. During his career at Illinois, Mr. Hindsley conducted many Concert Band concerts and other appearances on the campus and concerts on tour in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Iowa and Missouri. The repertory included virtually all-significant original and contemporary works for band. During his career Mr. Hindsley transcribed more than seventy-five major orchestral works for the concert band. Since 1950 he has made or contributed to four recorded albums primarily for the University of Illinois Alumni Association, and a separate series of 59 LP recordings of music with the Concert Band, which have been distributed and acclaimed worldwide. Under his direction the Concert Band played radio concerts on WILL-AM, the campus radio station; concerts were broadcast live and also recorded every Saturday morning at 9:30. Hindsley also made several television tapes for the Public Information division. He continued the annual band clinics that were established by A. A. Harding through the silver anniversary in 1954. Then he established the annual Festival of Concert Band Music, in which all university bands participated: Concert, First Regimental, Second Regimental A and B. Other major events of the Concert Band were the continuation of the Anniversary Concerts, the Spring Twilight Concerts, the Commencement Concerts, and the Governor’s Inaugural Concerts and inauguration ceremonial music. The Marching Illini also appeared at the Rose Bowl in 1952 and 1965, and marched in President Eisenhower’s second inaugural Parade in Washington in 1957. Mr. Hindsley is the author of seven books and was working on an eighth on bands and instrumental music education, and has contributed to several others. He has written over forty-five journal articles. Over thirty publishers have published original and transcriptions of Dr. Hindsley’s music. His self-published transcriptions for concert band are still used in all 50 states and in 14 countries on four continents. He has been the subject of three doctoral theses, and has served on the editorial board of the Music Educators Journal, the board of advisors of the Instrumentalist, and on the selection committee for the "Mac" award for outstanding high school band directors. He was also recently appointed to the Flag of Honor committee of the John Philip Sousa Foundation. During the course of Mr. Hindsley's research regarding wind instrument intonation, he was granted a patent for mechanisms on valve brass instruments. His research has influenced the design and specifications of cornets, trumpets, clarinets, euphoniums and tubas, both in the United States and in Europe. He has presented numerous clinics and demonstrations related to wind instrument intonation. At the University of Illinois he served on the Executive committees of the School of Music and the College of Fine and Applied Arts. He was also a member of the Music Extension Committee and on various committees for the Krannert Center for Performing Arts. In addition to music-related committees, his service included membership on the Games Committee of the Athletic Association, the cheerleader committee, and several doctoral committees. He was selected as speaker for the annual Veterans Day Ceremony in 1960. He has served as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and teacher on scores of college campuses and cities in almost all of the United States, and in France, Canada, and Mexico. He served as the conductor of numerous All State high school, intercollegiate, and MENC Division bands, and as conductor of the first Phi Mu Alpha band at the national convention in 1958. He was also on the staff of Bemidji, Minnesota summer music camp for three years; at the Western Music Camp at Gunnison Colorado for eight years, he established the Directors Band and served as conductor for four years. He was granted sabbatical leaves in Europe in 1955 and in Mexico in 1966. Following his retirement from the University of Illinois in 1970 he traveled to Alaska, Hawaii and other South Pacific islands, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. To celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1976, he and Mrs. Hindsley made a 50-day trip around the world. For one semester in 1976 he held an appointment as visiting conductor and professor at California State University in Fresno. He has personally photographed the capitals of all 50 states, and government buildings in thirty foreign countries. He was honorary member of several bands and music organizations, and an honorary citizen of Springfield, Illinois. Indiana University also awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music. He was a member of the Performing Arts Committee for the Illinois State Sesquicentennial and a state chairman of the Christmas Seals campaign in 1965. Dr. Hindsley was also a past president and an honorary life member of both the College Band Directors National Association and the American Bandmasters Association. He holds the highest awards of many music organizations, including the Goldman Award of the American School Band Directors Association, the Distinguished Service to Music Award of the Kappa Kappa Psi, and the "Oscar" of the National Band Association. In 1982 he was inducted into the National Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors. He had also served on his church administrative board, as a member of the board of trustees for the Wesley Foundation and on other various committees. He was listed in America’s Young Men in the 1930’s, along with Who’s Who in Music, International Who’s Who in Music, Who’s Who in Chicago and Vicinity, Who’s Who in the Midwest, the Dictionary of International Biography, Personalities of America, and many others. As Director of Bands and Professor of Music, Emeritus, at the University of Illinois, Mark. H. Hindsley died on 1 October 1999 [See the Full Obituary]. He is survived by his wife, three children, eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. The University of Illinois Bands, as well as the band and music communities, mourn the passing of this great man, musician, and educator. Hindsley Links The University of Illinois and Mark Records® recently released The Hindsley Legacy Recordings [7/99], a three volume CD
compilation featuring the recordings of the University of Illinois Bands under the baton of Dr. Mark Hindsley. If you are interested in
purchasing a copy, please contact the University Bands Office.
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| People | University Bands | School of Music | University of Illinois |
Mark Hubert Hindsley was born on a farm near Union City, Indiana on October 18th 1905. He attended
Libson School, a one-room school in Jackson Township. Soon after enrolling he was promoted to the
second grade, and then from the fourth to the sixth grade. He attended the sixth through twelfth grade at
Jackson Township Consolidated School. He served as president of his freshman class and played in the
Orchestra under the direction of Roy Shierling and Heck Peden. He participated in Chorus and won lead
parts in school operettas and plays. He balanced his fine arts activities with membership on the school’s
basketball, baseball, and track teams. Mr. Hindsley graduated with scholastic honors at the age of 15.
In 1934 Mr. Hindsley was appointed Assistant Director of Bands and Associate in Music at the University of Illinois where he was
assigned as director of the marching band and conductor of the First Regimental Band. His academic responsibilities included teaching
private lessons for brass instrument majors, as well as class percussion and winds, and brass and woodwind ensembles. Under his
direction the Marching Illini, known as a musical-military group without a peer, grew to a membership of over 175 members. He
developed the field entrance routines that have become Illinois traditions, as have the ILLINI and the "U" with a superimposed "I"
formations. He conducted many concerts and radio broadcasts with the First Regimental Band.
