IC News

The moment also reflected much of what had defined Gonoud’s four years on South Hill. A music education major specializing in clarinet, she performed in the wind ensemble, orchestra, jazz ensemble, jazz combos, and theatrical pit orchestras while pursuing interests that stretched across genres—all of which will benefit her in a career teaching music. The concerto Oliver wrote for her drew from many of those same influences, incorporating classical traditions, jazz language, and improvisation. At one point, it even quoted a short musical phrase frequently played by Titlebaum during his improvised solos—a musical inside joke and tribute orchestrated by Oliver and Gonoud for their mentor. 

The performance felt distinctly IC: a music education major performing a concerto written by a student composer, blending multiple musical traditions and paying tribute to a jazz professor. It was accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Daniel Cook, the college’s director of bands. 

While the concerto was new, the ideas behind it were not. For generations, they have shaped the musicians, educators, and leaders who emerged from Ithaca College bands. The roots of that tradition stretch back more than a century and can be traced through military ceremonies, Broadway productions, classrooms, concert halls, and some of the most familiar sounds in American life.

In 1922, Patrick Conway founded his Military Band School in Ithaca through a partnership with the Ithaca Conservatory of Music. The move gave Ithaca something rare for the era: one of the nation’s earliest institutions dedicated specifically to educating band musicians, conductors, and music teachers. According to professor emeritus Mark Fonder, Conway’s stature in the band world rivaled that of John Philip Sousa, whose name remains synonymous with American band music more than a century later. 

Conway’s ambitions extended well beyond educating skilled performers. He envisioned musicians who understood every aspect of band music, from conducting and composition to teaching and administration. In a 1928 article, Conway wrote that students should graduate with “a thorough musical training” that included knowledge of all band instruments, directing and organizing a band, composing, and familiarity with both band literature and the broader musical canon. The approach helped distinguish Ithaca from many of its peers. Students were not simply learning to play in bands; they were preparing to lead them. 

The Conway school attracted students who went on to lead military bands, perform with major orchestras, teach generations of young musicians, and help establish the modern profession of band directing. Among them was a young baritone player named Walter Beeler.

If Conway laid the foundation, Beeler built the institution that would earn national recognition. Beeler became conductor of the Ithaca College Concert Band in the early 1930s and remained one of the defining figures in the program’s history for decades. His standing within the wind-band profession was such that Frank Battisti, one of its most respected conductors and educators, later observed, “No one knew how to improve a band’s tone and ensemble technique better than Beeler.” 

Under Beeler and the generations of faculty who followed, Ithaca College bands produced conductors, educators, military band leaders, and performers whose influence extended far beyond the confines of the city. As their careers spread across the country, so did the program’s reputation. It was reinforced not only by its musicians but also by its faculty composers. Major works such as Karel Husa’s Music for Prague 1968 and Dana Wilson’s Piece of Mind helped establish Ithaca College as an important center for wind-band music during the second half of the 20th century. 

When Kim Dunnick—now professor emeritus of music performance—accepted a position and arrived in Ithaca in 1981, he was already familiar with the college’s reputation. After earning degrees from Indiana University and teaching in Tennessee, he chose Ithaca because of the strength of its music program and the standing it had earned among musicians and educators across the country. 

Over time, Dunnick came to see that reputation as something self-sustaining. Graduates became teachers, conductors, administrators, and performers who hired, mentored, and recommended the next generation of Ithaca musicians. “It’s almost an ecosystem that feeds itself,” he said. 

Art Ostrander, who joined the Ithaca College faculty in 1971 and served as dean of the School of Music from 1985 to 2008—the longest tenure of any dean in the school’s history—spent decades helping sustain that tradition. A nationally respected music theorist and educator, he believed music education should expand students’ opportunities and aspirations. Under his leadership, generations of students prepared for careers as performers, educators, and arts leaders while continuing the broad-based approach that had distinguished the program since Conway’s era. 

The legacy of Ithaca College bands has never belonged solely to its most visible performers. While some graduates built careers on Broadway, in military ensembles, and on concert stages, many more became music educators whose influence multiplied through generations of students—many of whom eventually enrolled at IC. Mark Fonder, professor emeritus of music and a historian of the program, describes those teachers as “the backbone of the legacy.” 

Today, Ithaca alumni teach in schools and communities across the country. Among them are Robert Van Wyk ’97, a Rahway High School music educator who received the New Jersey Music Educators Association’s Master Music Teacher Award in 2026, and Christina M. Carnevale-Helbock ’99, whose ensembles at Brentwood High School have repeatedly earned New York State School Music Association Gold with Distinction ratings.

The collective impact of the college’s faculty, alumni, and students is difficult to measure. No single story can fully capture it. Individual careers, however, offer a glimpse of the program’s reach.

Jim Hynes ’78 arrived at Ithaca College under circumstances few would have predicted would lead to one of the most accomplished performing careers of any alumnus of the School of Music. Unlike many aspiring professional musicians, Hynes did not begin playing his instrument as a young child. He picked up the trumpet at age 17 after a friend encouraged him to join his high school band. As a would-be first-generation college student, he had given little thought to pursuing higher education until a teacher suggested he consider studying music. That recommendation eventually brought him to Ithaca. 

By his own account, Hynes arrived feeling far behind many of his peers. Rather than discouraging him, the experience became motivation. He immersed himself in ensembles, studied with trumpet professor Herbert Mueller, and spent much of his college career trying to catch up to musicians he viewed as more advanced. By his senior year, he had won the college’s concerto competition and was chosen to fill Mueller’s spot in the faculty brass quintet during the professor’s sabbatical, performing alongside faculty musicians while still an undergraduate. The trajectory his career followed was remarkable. After graduate study at the Eastman School of Music and a stint with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Hynes moved to New York City. Within weeks, he landed his first Broadway substitute engagement. Six months later, he was performing in an orchestra for a Broadway show. 

If the opportunities came quickly, the preparation had taken years. 

“When that door opens for you, you’ve got to walk in the door and just nail it,” Hynes said during an interview earlier this year. 

Over the next four decades, Hynes built a career that carried him to nearly every corner of the music industry. He performed on Broadway, toured with Paul Simon, recorded film scores and commercial jingles, and became one of the most sought-after trumpet players in the country. 

People may not have known Hynes’s name, but they almost certainly heard his trumpet. His credits included Broadway productions and cast recordings, as well as the iconic trumpet parts associated with The Price Is Right theme and NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Millions of listeners have heard those performances without realizing they were listening to an Ithaca College alumnus. 

Hynes’s career illustrates the breadth of the Ithaca bands tradition. Some graduates became educators. Others led military ensembles, community bands, and university programs. Still others carried their training into the highest levels of the performing arts and popular culture.

Editor’s note: Jim Hynes ’78, who was interviewed for this story, passed away in June 2026 before its publication.