Harvey Samuel Whistler Jr. (September 7, 1907 – March 17, 1976) was an American violinist, editor, arranger, and composer of educational music studies for studio, homogenous, and heterogeneous class instrumental (strings and band) instruction. In all, Whistler and colleagues published around 83 known educational music collections and methods for instrumental ensembles. Among his best known works are his violin and viola etude books, "Introducing the Positions," "Preparing for Kreutzer," "From Violin to Viola," and "Developing Double Stops" all of which were published by the Rubank, Inc. music publishing company, and are still available through the Hal Leonard Co.
The development of instrumental music education in American public school began around the turn of the twentieth century. Like many of his early- to mid-twentieth century contemporaries, Samuel Applebaum, Merle J. Isaac, Gilbert Waller, and others, Harvey S. Whistler sought to enhance instrumental music education around the United States by composing, arranging, and editing music educational resources and repertoire for aspiring young musicians. Whistler's instrumental works are known for their repurposing of nineteenth-century solo instrumental etudes for heterogeneous and homogenous instrumental classrooms and elastic scoring., Dakon, J. M. (2011). Dr. Harvey Samuel Whistler Jr. (1907–1976): An influential pedagogue and researcher in music education. Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, 33(1), 5-26. His "Introducing the Positions for violin" remains one of the most recognized shifting etude books in the violin literature.
Life
Musical training (1907–1930) Harvey Samuel Whistler Jr. was born September 7, 1907, in Fresno, California, to hotel owners, Harvey Samuel and Sallie Byrn Whistler. His mother, a classically trained pianist, insisted that music be part of Harvey Jr.’s education and oversaw his earliest training on piano. His father, like-minded in his wife's approach, ensured his son attended the local symphony every other week. Around age 9, Harvey Jr. expressed an interest in violin and enrolled in lessons with George W. Hastings (c. 1916-1919), a renowned band and orchestra director from Santa Cruz. At age 13, he switched to Will C. Hays (ca. 1920-1925), his orchestra director and former violinist with the San Francisco Symphony. By age 18, he had developed considerable ability, performing the maestoso, larghetto, and andantino sections of Niccolò Paganini's Le Streghe (Witches’ Dance), Op. 8 at his high school graduation ceremony, the final movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 at his studio recital, and Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 for a local Fresno radio station.
Following high school graduation, Whistler attended Fresno State Teachers College (1925-1930). Personal records suggest Whistler used this period to study piano more seriously and to become better acquainted with woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments, eventually labeling himself a “legitimate” clarinetist.Addenda Sheet. White. Brief Summary of the Musical Training and Experiences of Harvey S. Whistler. In possession of the "Harvey S. Whistler Papers" Ohio State University Thompson Library Special Collections. Whistler also continued studying violin and viola with Kornelis Bering, violinist with the San Francisco Symphony, Carl Grissen, violinist and author of the Learn with Tunes violin method, and Karl Ondricek, the Czech violin virtuoso.
Whistler attributed his knowledge of music arranging and composition to Herman A. [August] Hummel,Herman August Hummel (b. Dec. 24, 1892, Crawfordville, Indiana; d. Nov. 1967, Las Vegas, Nevada) a professional songwriter, arranger, and composer from Cleveland, Ohio. In 1929, Hummel moved his family to Los Angeles at the behest of Sam Fox of the Sam Fox Publishing Company.Letter by Jean Aileen [Hummel] Boothsby, daughter of Herman Hummel, dated January 15, 1989. In possession of Kenneth Boothsby. While there, he assumed a position as Chief of Musical Staff for Fox West Coast Theaters“Music.” The Fresno Bee. November 19, 1933, pg. 12. where Whistler performed as a violinist from 1925 to 1930. Though the circumstances of their meeting have been forgotten, Whistler studied with Hummel for several years (ca. 1929–1934), beginning what would become a lifelong collaboration and friendship between the two musicians.
In 1929, Whistler completed his coursework and was appointed Supervisor of Teacher Training for the Fresno State College Training School (FSCTS). Similar to modern-day String Projects, the FSCTS provided instrumental instruction to area school children and teacher training to collegiate students studying instrumental music education. Whistler directed the string and wind ensembles, managed student teachers, and assisted the Head of the Instrumental Department, Howard S. Monger. Citing his work, Arthur G. Wahlberg, Head of the Music Department, later wrote, “His work was so outstanding he could have remained with us indefinitely.”Recommeation letter, Auther C. Walhberg. In possession of the "Harvey S. Whistler Papers" Special Collection, Ohio State University, Thompson Library, Columbus, OH. Whistler graduated on June 13, 1930, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, music special secondary specialization (i.e., teacher licensure), and an honorable mention in scholarship.
Public school music educator (1930–1939) One month before graduating from Fresno State, Whistler was appointed Director of Instrumental Music at Selma-Union High School (SUHS) and Grammar School in Selma, California, a position that provided him ample opportunity to hone his newly acquired compositional and pedagogical skills. According to Arthur Wahlberg, Whistler "built the [SUHS] music department into one of the strongest in [California].” SUHS faculty, staff, and students likewise dedicated their 1934 yearbook to him: “The Magnet Staff Broadcasting Company dedicates to Mr. Whistler this twenty-seventh program of [the] Selma Union High School network. Under his baton for the past four years the musical department of SUHS has won not only local but state-wide recognition.”Selma-Union High School, The Magnet: 1934 Annual, in possession of the "Harvey Whistler Papers" Special Collection, Ohio State University, Thompson Library.
Outside of work, Whistler continued violin studies with the Russian concert violinist, Josef Piastro Borissoff (c. 1930–1932), and began composing music for his school ensembles. By 1939, Whistler had published six marches with Carl Fischer and Volkwein Brothers music publishing companies, three of which were publicly performed by local city bands.Glorious Youth March (1933, Carl Fischer), Spirit of the Day March (1934, CF), Stadium Triumph March (1935, CF), Campus Honors March (1937, CF); Gridiron Glory March (1939, Volkwein Brothers); Banners Flying March (1939; VB).“Band Concert at Park Tomorrow to Start Series: Harvey S. Whistler March Composition will be Featured.” The Fresno Bee. July 8, 1933, pg. 11; “Municipal Band Concerts Begin this Evening.” Hanford Morning Journal, June 28, 1935; “Summer Band Concerts to Begin Friday Night with Program at Lacey Park.” The Hanford Sentinel. June 25, 1936. Whistler also remained active in the community running his own private violin studio and serving in the California-Western Division Chapter of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) as a string clinician and administrative committee member. Most notable of these appointments were his two-terms as President of the California-Western Central Section (1934-1935).
In summer 1933, Whistler enrolled part-time at the University of Southern California to study educational administration with additional coursework in sociology and psychology. He graduated two years later in June 1935 with a Master of Science Degree in education and administrative credentials. His master's thesis entitled, The Organization and Administration of Music Departments in Secondary Schools, provides a rare description of California's public-school instrumental program structure during the 1930s.
After graduation, Whistler and his colleague, Arthur C. Nord (1890-1970), began work on a large-scale string class method book entitled Beginning Strings: The World's Masters-Method for Stringed Instruments (1939). Published in 1939 by Carl Fischer, Beginning Strings was intended for use among “mixed string instrument groups in the public schools”—a sentiment shared by Merle J. Isaac, who had written his namesake String Class Method just one year earlier.Harvey S. Whistler and Arthur C. Nord, Beginning Strings: The “World's Masters” Method for Stringed Instruments, Vol.1 for Viola (Chicago: Carl Fischer, 1939), 5. Unlike Isaac's book, however, Whistler and Nord arranged and sequenced standard nineteenth-century string methods (e.g., Hohmann, Wohlfahrt, Dancla) for heterogeneous group instruction, arguing that these long-established studies were “going to waste as far as public schools were concerned” and should continue to be studied. Whistler would adopt this ‘repurposing’ approach throughout much of his later works.
In Summer 1938, Whistler left SUHS, handing its directorship over to Nord. Whistler, in turn, assumed Nord's position as Instrumental Music Instructor at Charles W. Eliot Junior High School (EJHS), but only briefly. He resigned in July 1939 to begin a Doctor of Philosophy degree in education and musicology at The Ohio State University.
Composer, arranger, scholar, soldier (1939–1947) Around the same time Whistler left EJHS and enrolled in his Ph.D. program, both he and Hummel were hired by Rubank, Inc. to publish educational texts for school string and band ensembles. The pair got to work immediately publishing a number of folios and method books, among them Solos for Strings (1940) and Paving the Way: From Instrumental Instruction to Band Playing (1940), a method book for full-orchestra classes and Whistlers second attempt at a classroom method.
On August 15, 1940, the Mendelssohn Conservatory in Chicago (now defunct) conferred upon Whistler an Honorary Doctorate in Music (D.Mus.), for his work in music education. Two years later, on June 15, 1942, Whistler graduated from OSU after successfully defending his dissertation, “The Life and Work of Theodore Thomas.” According to Ezra Schabas, author of Theodore Thomas: America's Conductor and Builder of Orchestras, Whistler dissertation "deals best with Thomas's Chicago years; including an exhaustive bibliography." Whistler later published parts of the dissertation detailing Thomas as a violinist in the October 1944 volume of Violins and Violinists Magazine.Whistler, H. S. (1944, October). Theodore Thomas as a Violinist. Violins and Violinists, 6(4), 140-148.