Harold L. Walters

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Harold L. Walters

Biography

Harold Walters (29 September 1918, Gurden, Arkansas -22 October 1984, Hollywood) began cornet lessons at the age of eight, later changing to tuba and string bass. After graduating from Little Rock High School he received additional musical instruction at the Cincinnnati Conservatory of Music and the American University.

From 1938 to 1943 he performed and served as chief arranger with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C. After his military discharge he was with CBS Radio in Washington for a year and then moved to New York City where he served as conductor-arranger for Warner Brothers Theatre, Fox Newsreel features, Randolph Hurst News, and various orchestras, including the Sigmund Romberg Orchestra.

In 1946 Mr. Walters, who had become an honorary member of Beta (OK) Chapter, invited Alpha (TX) Chapter member Dr. Milburn Carey to charter Gamma Chapter in Indiana. Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Mu was organized and the charter members initiated on November 27, 1953, at the state convention of the Indiana Music Educators Association. He maintained close friendship with several Indiana bandmasters including Frank Cofield who he frequently visited in Seymour, Indiana. In 1949 he joined the Rubank Music Publishing Company as editor, composer and arranger.

Walters’ published compositions and arrangements number over 900 for band and over 600 for strings, woodwind, brass and percussion solos and ensembles, some under the pseudonym Fred L. Frank. He was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In 1956 he was elected president of the American Band Masters Association, and some years later he received an honorary doctorate of music at Washington College of Music.


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