“What do you want to play young fellow?” asked the instructor of the grade school band, turning to the applicant next in line.
“The cornet, sir,” replied the boy.
“You’re pretty young, aren’t you?” said the teacher, looking closely at the small, bright-eyed lad.
“I’ll soon be nine, sir,” the youngster replied, eagerly, though he was really stretching a point.
“Well, we’ll try you on an alto horn in the second alto section. What’s your name?”
“Edwin Goldman, sir.”
Just two weeks later Edwin was asked to remain after band practice. “What’s the matter boy?” asked the bandleader, “You don’t seem to be able to play.”
“It’s hard to read that second part, sir,” said Edwin. “I’d rather learn to play the cornet.”
“You’d better wait a year or two. I told you before that you are too young. That’s all. Turn in your instrument.”
Eddie rushed out of the room fearing his tears would be discovered, while the young teacher hurriedly wrote “No talent” after the name of Edwin Goldman.
However the boy’s keen disappointment was so evident that two weeks later the teacher said, “Well, Edwin, I’ll give you another try—on the cornet this time—we’ll see what you can do.”
Edwin quickly showed what he could do. He made such amazing progress that it was evident he had his full share of his family’s talent.
Edwin Franko Goldman was born in Louisville, Kentucky, January 1, 1878. He had a rare heritage in a fine musical and cultural background.
Edwin’s mother, Selma Franko, came of a line of famous musicians. She was the oldest of sixteen children, and so many in that large family were musical that eight grand pianos were kept in their home to allow all who wished to practice. Selma, a talentedviolinist and pianist, was one of the five Franko children who toured the United States and Europe as young musical prodigies.
David Goldman, the father of Edwin, was also a brilliant pianist and violinist, but as an amateur only. He devoted his life to the profession of law. He was highly educated, widely traveled and very prominent in his field. Having descended from such a family, it is small wonder that from his earliest boyhood young Edwin dreamed that some day he would become a great musician.
The Goldman family moved to Evansville, Indiana, later to Terre Haute. When Edwin was eight years old they left the middle west to live in New York City.
Through his admittance to the public school band Edwin had obtained possession of a cornet. His faithful practicing nearly drove the neighborhood to distraction. Even his devoted family protested at the labored trills, runs and scales. But deaf to all criticism, the boy persisted. Before very long Edwin was asked to play at all the neighborhood parties, and his music was the pride of his school. He was voted the most popular boy in his class and received a prize for excellent playing when he was graduated.
At fourteen, Edwin Franko Goldman won a scholarship at the National Conservatory of Music where he studied composition under the great Antonin Dvorak. Next year, Jules Levy then the world’s greatest cornetist, hearing Edwin play, gave him an approving pat on the back as he said, “Someday you will be a great cornetist—you put your whole soul into the tones.” Levy,realizing the boy’s talent was happy to take him as a free pupil.
Two years later—at seventeen—Dr. Walter Damrosch chose Edwin Franko Goldman to be the solo cornet player in the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra. “The Baby of the Met,” the players called him; he was so small and so young. In fact, he was the youngest musician ever to hold such an important place in that great organization. There Goldman had the privilege of playing under the direction of Mahler, Hertz and for a while, under Toscanini.
For ten full years Edwin Goldman held this position. In the meantime he organized and directed small orchestras which were then in popular demand. Later on he began to play in various bands during his vacations at the Metropolitan. In 1912 he announced that he was going to give up his work in the Metropolitan Opera House organization. His family and friends disapproved and objected.
“What do you intend to do?” they asked. Goldman would not give them a direct answer. He had an idea, but he was not ready to disclose it. He began to teach the cornet and the trumpet. He attracted pupils from all parts of the United States and even from some countries in Europe. Goldman’s warm, magnetic personality combined with his outstanding musical ability made him a marvelous teacher.
While continuing his teaching this energetic young man conducted many series of band concerts in the New York area. He liked this work, but he was surprised and disgusted at the lack of systematic andadequate training among bands. They played in a haphazard way, trying solely for volume and noise. Goldman had always felt that this great difference between band and orchestra playing should not exist. He determined to form a band and train it in accordance with his own ideals. This had been his real reason for leaving the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra.
For a long time Edwin Goldman had envisioned a band with great wind instruments of much power, yet rivalling an orchestra in delicacy of tone and style. Now he hoped to form an organization of fine musicians and direct them in the production of great works played in this symphonic manner.
Few people sympathized with Goldman’s ideas. Most of those to whom he confided his plans assured him that he could never succeed. But Edwin Goldman had great faith and unlimited persistence. His first object was to collect the best available players of wind and percussion instruments, and with them raise the standards of bands and band music.
Having assembled his quota of chosen men, Goldman, as manager and conductor, founded the New York Military Band. (A few years later this name was changed toThe Goldman Band.) With this group he put into use the methods, and ways of directing which he had learned from the great conductors under whom he had played at the Metropolitan Opera House. Goldman directed each player as if he were giving him private lessons. He marked instructions in red ink on their music scores, even telling them when to breathe. At first, the men objected to his strict supervision. “Hetreats us like kindergartners!” they said. Goldman held long, careful rehearsals which many of the players resented at the time, but later they found that a man trained by this expert teacher could become a welcome member of any first-class symphony orchestra.
By his own efforts Goldman collected a fund of $50,000, and in 1918 onThe Greenof Columbia University,The Goldman Bandopened its first season of free summer concerts. This new Symphonic Brass Band was a distinct success. The newspapers praised it highly and people by the thousands flocked to the concerts. A few years later Columbia neededThe Greenfor new buildings, and the band concerts were given on the Mall in Central Park three nights each week. On two nights weekly, concerts were played in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
In 1924 Daniel Guggenheim took over the costs of the concerts, making them a gift to the city of New York. The necessary money is now donated by the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation. The Goldman Band has given many programs in other parks, other cities and even in Canada.
An interesting new feature was initiated on the Goldman Concert program on the Mall in 1925—an Annual Music Memory Contest. For twelve consecutive years Aaron Gold, a middle-aged, leather craftsman, from the Bronx, won the first prize in this event. This music lover claimed to have gained all his musical knowledge through his attendance at the Goldman Band Concerts.
The Goldman Band, one of the first great organizationsto play over the radio, was chosen to play on NBC’s opening program, November 15, 1926. This band is said to have had a greater listening audience than any other musical group.
In 1930 Dr. Goldman founded the American Bandmasters’ Association made up of all the prominent Band Conductors of the United States and Canada. The members elected Goldman their first president and some years later he was made honorary life president. This influential group has become a power in upholding the ideals of band music so long desired by Dr. Goldman.
At first bandleaders were obliged to use orchestral scores of the great masters’ compositions, rearranged for band instruments. Only expert musicians could make such arrangements successfully and it was an expensive procedure. Early in his career as bandleader Goldman had written to every living composer of note asking them to compose music for the band. “At first they all thought it was a joke,” said Dr. Goldman with a chuckle, “but now, more band music is written than can be used. A number of famous men, such as Grainger, Holst, Copland, Shostakovitch, Milhand, Gould and others, have been contributors to the repertoire of band music.”
On Dr. Goldman’s seventieth birthday, January 1, 1949, an unsurpassable tribute was paid to this man who had worked for years to have music—good music—composed especially for bands. The august League of Composers presented in his honor a program of their music for symphonic bands which was played byGoldman’s Concert Band in Carnegie Hall, New York City.
The Band was jointly led by Walter Hendl, the assistant director of the New York Philharmonic Association Society, and Percy Grainger, composer-conductor. This was the first time a program of art music written by noted living composers especially for the band, had been offered to the public.
Edwin Franko Goldman and Adelaide Marbrunn were married in 1908. Throughout the years they have shared a great love for music. Two children were born to them, Richard Franko and Louise Elizabeth. Richard Franko Goldman a thorough musician, a pianist, composer, arranger and musicologist, is the assistant conductor of the Goldman Band. Louise Goldman married and has a young son who seems to have inherited the Goldman musical talent, and incidentally, he is the apple of his grandfather Goldman’s eye.
A short time ago this eight-year-old Michael who began studying music at the age of six, brought a brief music manuscript to his grandfather. It was entitled “A Song to Music” and it was “Dedicated” to Gramp. Neatly written in the key of four sharps, the final measure began with a half-rest and ended with two full-toned chords high on the staff in the right hand part.
“Gramp, do you know why I put the half-rests in the last measure?” asked the budding composer.
“No, why did you?” queried Dr. Goldman.
“Why you see I had to have time to get my hands up there on the keyboard,” replied the lad proudly. Sowatch for his name among future composers, “Walter Michael Freed.”
The dynamic, but genial and kindly Dr. Goldman likes people and people like him. He has many friends among the musical “greats” of today and yesterday. And he knew intimately the noted bandleaders of the past generation.
He admired the inimitable Patrick Gilmore who was the real founder of the Concert Band. He enjoyed playing cornet duets with his good friend, Herbert L. Clarke, known as the World’s greatest cornetist.
Although Goldman was almost a quarter of a century younger than John Philip Sousa, the two were firm friends. At a party one evening at which Dr. Goldman entertained a number of noted musicians, Sousa remarked to the younger man, “I have always meant to tell you that I owe much of my success to your mother’s family. The first really fine music I ever heard was played by the five Franko children. When I was a school boy I attended their concert in Washington and I was thrilled and inspired by their wonderful playing.”
“Would you like to see one of those children again, Mr. Sousa?” asked Dr. Goldman.
“Nothing would please me more,” replied Sousa.
“Come with me then,” said Goldman. He ushered the guest into the next room, and proudly led him to a lovely white-haired lady. “Mother,” he said as they smiled tenderly at each other, “I wish to present my good friend John Philip Sousa who heard the Franko children play long ago.”
“Do you remember the little girl with the long braids, Mr. Sousa?” Her dark eyes twinkled as she pointed to a photograph of the five Franko children on the wall nearby.
“Indeed I do,” said Sousa. Stepping close to the picture he added, “There she is, the one on the left.”
“I am she—Selma”—said Mrs. Goldman smiling.
“At last I can thank you,” Sousa replied, “for your fine music which gave me inspiration and strengthened my desire to be a musician.”
If Dr. Goldman were the kind of man who glories in display, the walls of his spacious studio would be crowded with various medals, emblems and scrolls. He has received countless gifts and honors. He is the first musician to have been given official honors from the City of New York, including a beautiful New York City flag, several medals and watches, besides scrolls upon which are written official resolutions. Boston, San Francisco, Toronto (Canada), many other large cities and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have bestowed similar recognition upon this outstanding musician.
An unique honor has been given to Dr. Goldman by the Pawnee Tribe of American Indians who made him an Indian Chieftain and gave him the name of Chief Bugle. And not only has his native land shown its appreciation of Goldman’s achievements, but other countries as well. France made him Officer de l’Instruction Publique. Italy presented him with the medal of Cavaliere of the Order of the Crown.
Czechoslovakia made him a member of the Orderof the White Lion. Various Universities have conferred upon Dr. Goldman their honorary degree of Doctor of Music. He also belongs to many musical organizations, fraternities and unions. And indicative of his love for young people, Dr. Goldman never fails to name his position as Music Counselor of the 4-H Clubs of the United States and also of the Boy Scouts of America.
But the honor which gave Dr. Goldman the “most profound satisfaction of all” was the presentation by Mrs. Sousa of her late husband’s favorite baton. Mrs. Sousa said, “I feel that my husband would have wanted this baton to go to his good friend, Edwin Franko Goldman.” Most leading musicians agreed that the honor of being the “Dean of American Bandmasters” rightfully went from Sousa to Goldman, “the man who had brought the band to a high pitch of musical perfection.”
Several books, very valuable to bandsmen, have been written by Dr. Goldman.Band Betterment, published in 1934 andThe Goldman Band Systemwhich came out in 1936 are two of these. His first book,The Foundation to Cornet Playinghas been most popular with ambitious cornetists and it quickly sold more than one quarter of a million copies. A new series by Dr. Goldman is being brought out.
Facing The Music, the famous bandmaster’s autobiography, is to appear shortly.
More than one hundred marches have been composed by Dr. Goldman, many of which have become so popular that he ranks next to Sousa in that field.OnThe Mall, Goldman’s best-known march, is often requested by the concert crowds who, without a signal from the leader, spontaneously join in singing or whistling the trio. Brooklyn is equally enthusiastic when he playsHail Brooklyn, a march which Goldman composed and dedicated to the people of Brooklyn.
The United States Government recognizes Dr. Goldman’s great musical ability. Recently he was appointed on a committee of three to make a survey of the Government Service Bands in various centers including Japan and the Philippines, and to suggest ways of improving these bands.
Dr. Goldman generously gives much time to worthwhile musical efforts of various groups. Regularly, once each year, he conducts the Salvation Army Band in New York City. And also, every year, he leads the band at the Swedish Orphans’ Home to aid their money-raising campaign.
Young, talented musicians may be sure of a sympathetic hearing from this great-hearted man of music. He is always happy to discover and promote new musical geniuses.
At the funeral of the well-known Negro singer and composer, Harry Burleigh, Dr. Goldman was attracted by an unusually beautiful voice among the singers. He at once sought her out, gave her an audition and offered her an opportunity to sing at the Goldman Band Concerts.
Dr. Goldman is an unforgettable figure. He is a handsome man with wavy, white hair, brilliant darkeyes and a quick friendly smile. He is not tall, but slender, trimly built and of distinguished appearance.
This maker of “music for the masses” is one of New York City’s best-known men. While band music is his chief interest, he indulges in a hobby, that of collecting autographs and letters of composers, conductors, musicians and other famous people. Besides his other numerous activities, Dr. Goldman finds time to aid his “pet project”—School and College Bands.
Since the beginning of this movement Dr. Goldman’s efforts for its advancement have been continuous. As a judge at contests and music festivals, adviser and consultant, he has freely given his time. “These High School and College Bands have a wonderful future and will exert a great influence upon our country’s music,” said this music authority. Dr. Goldman is in great demand as a judge or speaker at all music festivals.
He firmly believes that every child should learn to play a musical instrument. “With that hobby,” says Dr. Goldman, “boys will not loaf or linger on the streets, not knowing what to do with their spare time. Now, with shorter work hours, people have more unoccupied time. Those who become interested in music will be interested in all the better things of life—art, literature, and sculpture. The only worthwhile things that last are cultural things. Music will remain with them forever.”