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Joe Tom Haney
Biography
Joe Tom Haney (19 August 1927, Colorado City, Texas, - 9 March 2016) was a composer and educator.
Col. Haney started playing trombone in sixth grade. After one year of private lessons, he was selected for the Marlin High School Band.
After graduating high school in 1944, he entered Texas A&M and the Aggie Band. Haney was there for only a semester before being drafted into the Army where he served fourteen months in Korea and played first trombone in the 282nd AGF Band in Seoul. Haney was honorably discharged in 1947 and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree at SMU in 1950. In 1954, he got his Master's from Sam Houston State University.
For his first position as a band director, Haney started in the small town of Hemphill which had no band hall, no instruments, no music, no uniforms and few students. In 1951, the Hemphill High School Band played its first concert. In the fall of 1951, Haney moved to Calvert, Texas, where his band earned first division ratings in both concert and sight-reading. He then moved to Wharton, Texas, as junior high band director where his band earned first division ratings before moving to Mexia High School. The Black Cat Band earned two first divisions at the UIL contest in the spring of '57 and won its first Sweepstakes the following year. Haney stayed in Mexia for the next sixteen years.
In 1972, Haney was invited to become the Associate Director of the Texas Aggie Band at Texas A&M University. Sensing the need of other students who did not want to be in the Corps, Haney organized the Texas A & M University Symphonic Band in 1973. During the seventeen years Joe directed the Texas Aggie Band, his bands made eight bowl performances, marched in the inaugural parade of President George Bush and performed at the inaugurations of several Texas governors.
His arrangement of The Spirit of Aggieland has been performed by the Aggie Band at all football games since 1968.
"The Colonel," as he is respectfully known by Aggie bandsmen, was honored with the Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award and the BMI Music in Sports Award. The Aggie Band Drill Field is also named in his honor as the Joe T. Haney Drill Field.
Works for Winds
- Brasso Brilliante March (1976)
- March Furioso (1980)
- Noble Men of Kyle (1974)
- Spirit of Aggie Land, The (as arranger)
Resources
- Col. Joe Tom Haney, former Aggie Band director, passes away." KBTX-TV Website. 10 March 2016 Accessed 18 May 2017
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Joe Tom Haney." Accessed 18 May 2017