William P. Foster

William Patrick Foster ( born August 25, 1919 in Kansas City (Missouri ); † August 28, 2010 in Tallahassee, Florida ) was an American musician, bandleader and music educator.

Foster learned as a young clarinet and studied music at the University of Kansas. He earned 1941 in Kansas Bachelor and Master in 1950 at Wayne State University, Music, 1955, he received his doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University in music education and sought a career as an orchestral conductor at schools. His first band he founded at Lincoln High School in Springfield (Missouri ); then he went in 1946 to the African-American Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he established a school orchestra. Later he led his Florida A & M Marching 100 band in Tallahassee, the songs like " Alexander 's Ragtime Band " and initially interpreted usually played military marches of John Philip Sousa. Among the most famous band members is one of saxophonist Julian " Cannonball" Adderley. Foster developed with her over the years from a repertoire of themes of African-American popular music, the elements of jazz and pop as James Brown integrated. She also appeared in the Super Bowl, the inauguration ceremonies of U.S. Presidents Clinton and Obama, as well as in the award of Grammy Awards, the Olympics and on national television. Foster also wrote two autobiographical works, The Man Behind the Baton and Band Pageantry: A Guide for the Marching Band. His career as a director of the Florida A & M band he finished in 1998.