Van Ragsdale
Biography
Van B. Ragsdale (b. 1946, Pampa, Tx.) is an American educator and composer.
Mr. Ragsdale began playing trombone at the age of nine. He attended Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, after which he was invited to open the new Yucca Junior High in Clovis in 1968. Thereafter he taught band in several Texas and New Mexico junior and senior high schools for the next 30 years. He was the band director at Permian High School in West Texas during the famous "Friday Night Lights" years, a period he described as doing band 13 months a year.
After his retirement from high school bands in 2001, Mr. Ragsdale began composing and arranging for Carl Fischer Music Company and Southern Music Company, adjunct teaching at Texas A&M University Commerce, and consulting with many high school bands in Texas.
Ragsdale was first awarded the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence and was listed in The World’s Who’s Who of Musicians. He also served as international vice-president and president of Phi Beta Mu, and was elected to the Texas Bandmaster Hall of Fame in 2012.
Works for Winds
- The Carnival of Venice (as arranger)
- Finale from Symphony in F minor No 4 (as editor; arr. Safranek) (1878/1912/2004)
- Reflections on a Theme by Clifton Williams
- Sol y Sombra (as arranger) (1958/1974)
- A Walk with McCarley (1998)
References
- "Van Ragsdale – Class of 2012." Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame. Eeb. Accessed 22 July 2021
- "Van Ragsdale." Facebook. Web. Accessed 22 July 2021