Cache Is Not At The Posted Coordinates
Mr. Toot is the mascot not only of the North Iowa Band Festival, but also for Mason City as a whole. His image has appeared on everything from T-Shirts to business cards to city light poles. Now his image also appears on the geocaching map just south of Mason City Iowa. Each of these puzzles will include a fact or story in theme with the art series. Some may also include a question or two for you to answer correctly to find the coordinates.
Mason City
As this series is about the Music Man and his relationship with Mason City we should also write about how the Mason City School System has been an influence to this as well.
The following is taken from an article in the Globe-Gazette dated May 6, 2001
Mason City and music are forever linked in the minds of many because of "The Music Man." However, the city had a strong musical heritage long before native son Meredith Willson's most famous work became a Broadway smash in the 1950s. Music is still a big part of community life. "It was like a chain reaction and it continues today," said Scott Bell, who has an instrument repair shop and plays percussion in a number of jazz combos. Bell said an unusually large number of people in Mason City are involved in music, whether it be through the Mason City Municipal Band, the North Iowa Concert Band, the North Iowa Choral Society, the North Iowa Symphony Orchestra, The River City Barbershop Chorus, The Sweet Adelines or any number of smaller ensembles. Bell said the quality of the music programs in the Mason City schools over the years is a big factor in the community's commitment to music. "You can thank the educators," he said.Joel Everist, director of choral activities at Mason City High School, said a lot of the success of the music programs in the schools has to do with longevity. He noted next year will be the 75th anniversary of both the band and choir programs at MCHS.
Orchestra director Dennis Root said the high school orchestra program began during the World War I era. "Mason City has always accepted that music is an important part of the curriculum and an important part of life," Everist said. According to Everist, the music teachers at Mason City are "blessed" to follow in the footsteps of excellent instructors from the past, and to have the support of the administration. The district teaches general music from preschool through eighth grade even though that is not a state requirement, he said. Root said not all schools have orchestra programs, but without one the music curriculum is incomplete. "String education is extremely important," he said. Both Root and Everist said the community's support of the music programs is also important. Everist noted the students always perform in front of packed houses, and a number of people in the audience don't even have children performing. He said one woman has been going to the Mohawk Follies since the annual variety show debuted in 1948. According to Everist, for 20 years before the Follies began MCHS had an all-school musical performance each year that was similar to a Broadway revue.People expect the Mason City music students to keep improving, according to Everist. After a performance, he often hears comments such as, "How are you going to top that?" He said there is an expectation in the community that the students will receive Division I ratings at state contests. Students don't appear to be intimidated by these high expectations. At a time when the overall enrollment in the district is decreasing, the number of students taking music at the high school is increasing, Everist said. He noted that 25 percent of the student body at MCHS is in band, orchestra or choir.
Music Man Square is a prime example of Mason City's devotion to music, according to Everist. "How many towns in Iowa, or even the United States, can talk about building a museum with music as its focus?" he said. "It's in the fiber and in the blood in Mason City." Root said this dedication to music is good for the community. "Music has a knack of cleansing the mind and calming the soul," he said. "Heaven knows we need more of that in this world." Mason City's musical roots can be traced back to the turn of the century, according to newspaper articles. "We have references to bands back in the 1890s," said Art Fishbeck, Mason City's unofficial historian. Newspapers from 1914 and 1915 refer to a boys' band directed by J.H. Jeffers that performed at the North Iowa Fair and other places. Fishbeck said Jeffers, who was from Wisconsin but lived and worked out of Mason City for a while, traveled around forming boys' bands, selling not only the instruments but also the uniforms. "It was easy for Meredith Willson to write "The Music Man" because all he had to do was write about what was going on in Mason City," Fishbeck said. Andy Mast, a 1985 MCHS graduate who now teaches music at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Mason City High School and community bands from 1920 to the present. According to Mast, 1920 was a watershed year for band in Mason City.
The Chamber of Commerce solicited funds to hire a band of professional musicians to play twice a day for six days a week all summer long. "That's just unbelievable," Mast said. "That really blew me away." The 1920 band included musicians who had performed with bands and orchestras in Chicago, Boston and New York. It also featured Frank Simon, who played coronet with John Phillip Sousa's band. Mast said the city didn't have a municipal band for several years after the 1920 band, probably because "it busted the piggy bank for a while." However, the seeds were planted, and by the end of the decade a municipal band of local players was going strong and has continued to this day. Mast recalls when he was in high school and was asked to audition for the municipal band. "I knew I had really made it then," he said. At about the same time a municipal band of local musicians was being established, band became a part of the curriculum at the high school rather than just a club activity.
Gerald Prescott became the first band director at MCHS in 1927. By 1930 the high school band was going to national contests. "They were big trips and they put Mason City on the map considerably," Fishbeck said. "Mason City was always judged superior." Prescott and all the subsequent band directors - Carleton Stewart, Paul Behm, Robert Dean and Gil Lettow - have been elected to the American Bandmasters Association, an honor usually given only to professional or college band directors. Both Fishbeck and Mast said William Storer was another important figure in Mason City's musical history. He began teaching instrumental music lessons around the turn of the century, and in 1922 he formed a band composed of students from Lincoln Junior High. Some of those students were recruited to play for the high school band during Prescott's first year at MCHS. According to Mast, a lot of people far beyond Iowa are aware of the reputation of the Mason City High School Band. He said when he recently had the opportunity to speak to the associate director of the New York Philharmonic and mentioned he was from Mason City, "His eyes just lit up. He said, 'Oh, wow, does Mason City still have a great band program?'
" Over the years a number of people from Mason City have gone on to have impressive careers in music. One is Kevin Dean, a 1972 MCHS graduate who is now an internationally known trumpet player and jazz composer. "I can't imagine I would have ended up in any kind of professional musical career if it hadn't been for the Mason City bands," said Dean, a jazz professor at McGill University in Montreal. Dean said his instructors were extraordinarily dedicated. His junior high band director, Henry Paine, would put in extra hours before school so Dean and a few other students who were interested could spend extra time on exercises to improve their technique. Seeing adult instructors, relatives, neighbors and friends playing in groups such as the municipal band also was an inspiration, according to Dean, who comes from a musical family. His grandmother, Florence Dean, taught piano in Mason City for many years and his father, Richard Dean, still plays with the local jazz group Raiders of the Lost Art at age 73. His uncle, Al Dean, teaches trumpet at Yale and does a lot of freelance work in music. Dean said there is a subtle feeling in Mason City that the arts in general and music in particular may cost money but they are important - not just as a means to keep kids occupied, but as something that enriches their lives. "I think it's almost immeasurable, how positive that is," he said.
Lettow, who has been the band director at MCHS for 21 years, said the most spectacular thing about music in Mason City is all the people who grow up loving it and continue to appreciate it as adults, even if they don't play or sing on either a professional or amateur level. Former students will e-mail him to tell him about a concert they attended. "They never, ever forget the legacy from which they came," he said.
N 43 02.260 W 93 11.439
This page is to honor the memory of Robert W Dean, a former band director of Mason City HS
Photo is of Robert Dean when he was in Spencer Iowa schools.
Robert Dean taught for 52 years in Spencer and Mason City High Schools. He had taught in Spencer from 1946 to 1970. Under his direction, both Spencer and Mason City High School bands were highly acclaimed and nationally recognized for their musicians. His second career was a University Professor, where he was a conductor of the University of Northern Iowa Symphonic Wind Ensemble for three years. Dean also conducted the Spencer Municipal band for 30 years. He served the musical community as a speaker, clinician, honor band conductor, and all-state band conductor in 22 states over a period of 40 years. Dean had always told his students, “Remember to never try to finish what God didn’t put there in the first place.” “If it works, use it, if it doesn’t, try something else." Dean began teaching in the fall of 1971 at the Mason City High School. During this period the bands under his direction continued to be awarded top ratings and were selected to perform at various conventions. Robert was also honored by Mason City, which his band uniform is held in the Music Man Square Museum.
Spencer High School Concert Band was one of forty-three recipients honored nationwide, with only three awarded in Iowa. (“Spencer Reporter”, September 8, 1987) The award was sponsored by Gladys and Al Wright and administered by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. The purpose of this was to identify any High School concert band, which were of a particularly high standard of excellence at the national level, which were of considerable historic importance, and influenced the high school concert band areas of activity during the period of time from 1920-1960. (John Philip Sousa Foundation 1987) Spencer Band hosted a number of concerts with nationally known guest artists with Doc Severinsen, Raphael Mendez, Kieg Carver, Al Galadaro, and Reginald Kell. The concerts filled both balconies in the Spencer auditorium and were major events in the town. The Iowa High School Music Association shows that Spencer band received Division 1 Ratings and the highest rating that was awarded during those years. In a letter dated July 19, 1965, Harold M. Knowlton, president of the Getzen Company, wrote that listening to, “a number of albums of concerts featuring Doc Severinsen, Spencer High School Concert band was the most outstanding of all of them and better than the University bands.” Dean’s knowledge of different styles of band music came from the original sources. He later used his knowledge to help young conductors and musicians in their interpretations and performances of stand bands.
Dean served in numerous elected and appointed positions including -American Bandmasters Association -Charter Member and past president of the American School Band Directors Association -Past President and honorary life member of the Iowa bandmasters association -Chairman of the board of electors for the National Association hall of fame of distinguished band conductors for nine years -Executive officer for the ASBDA national high school concert band contest/festival for the first year of competition His honors included -ASBDA Edwin Franko Goldman Award -National Mac Award -The University of Nebraska (Kearny) Distinguished Service Award -University of Northern Iowa School of Music Distinguished Service Award -The Bandmasters Association Karl L. King Award -The National Band Association Citation for Excellence -The Midwest International Band Clinic Medal of Honor -ASBDA Hawaiian Bandmasters Association distinguished service award The National Catholic Bandmasters Association presidents award -1991 National Federation Interscholastic Music Educators Award Dean’s music programs were very successful. His concerts were very formal events and generally played to “packed houses.” His bands received a lot of “ icing,” as they never earned less than the top rating in 40 years of public school teaching.
To listen to a performance of the Mason City High School Symphonic Band Spring Concert from 1977 directed by Robert W. Dean PRESS HERE