By Tarah Jean
(Source: Tallahassee Democrat)
The old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” came to life through a Florida A&M University graduate’s self-published book: “Bands on ‘the Hill’: A Pictorial History of Bands at Florida A&M University.”
Dale Thomas, a St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands native, published the 236-page book through his company Harmonie Publications to capture the history of the band and instrumental music programs at FAMU through rare and exclusive photographs.
“I’m sort of like a history buff, so anything dealing with African American history, music or band history, that’s me,” said Thomas, currently an academic advisor at Tallahassee State College.
Thomas came to Tallahassee to attend FAMU in 1986, where he received a bachelor’s degree in music education before going on to earn master’s degrees in educational administration and leadership as well as library and information studies, both from Florida State University.
He taught as a band director in Oklahoma and Florida public schools, including R. Frank Nims Middle School, and he is also a former music librarian of FAMU’s music department, where he worked with the university’s Marching “100” band and symphonic band program.
“I have a rich musical gene in my family, so I guess I kind of inherited it,” said Thomas, who plays the baritone, the tuba and the flute.
But lately, Thomas has been channeling his musical passion into the history of music through his book publications.
“I worked on campus as a librarian at FAMU … in the African American history collection area and was exposed to a lot of the historical documents from the Black Archives,” Thomas said. “That’s where I started doing research on the band program and the music department.”
Picture book is compiled ‘meticulously and with passion’
Thomas published in October 2023 to honor the 130th anniversary of the university’s band programs, and he says it took nearly 10 years to compile the research to complete it. The book, which costs $40, has sold over 200 copies so far.
The book features some of the early events, directors and student musicians of FAMU bands including the marching, jazz and symphonic bands dating back to 1892 under the leadership of directors Nathaniel C. Adderley, the famous Adderley brothers’ uncle; Marching 100 Founder William P. Foster; Julian E. White; Sylvester Young and current Director of Bands Shelby Chipman, also a professor of music at the university.
“It was very time consuming,” Thomas said of putting the book together. “It’s 130 years (of history) and so it was really hard to cover all of … the band program.”
Besides Thomas’ most recent book, he’s put out other books about the university’s band program, such as “America’s Band of Legend: A Pictorial Collection on Bands at Florida A&M University 1892-1996,” which he published in 1996.
In addition, Foster wrote a book about the Marching 100 in 1968, “Band Pageantry: A Guide for the Marching Band.” He also wrote the autobiography “The Man Behind the Baton” before his death in 2010, which features his work with the FAMU Marching 100.
Thomas says that while gathering research from a variety of sources, such as FAMU’s Meek-Eaton Black Archives for his 2023 book, he had help from FAMU alumnus Scotty Barnhart, a three-time Grammy winner and renowned jazz trumpeter.
Barnhart, who is also a photographer, let Thomas use some of his photographs for the book.
“What he managed to do is something that was long needed and he did it meticulously and with passion,” said Barnhart, currently director of the Count Basie Orchestra and a tenured professor of jazz at FSU. “He is a very important contributor to our history.”
“The story has really not been told as well as he’s told it through the photos,” he added.
Copies of Thomas’ books have been registered into the Library of Congress, and he also donated a few copies to the University of Maryland Libraries’ Archival Collections.
He says FAMU’s Coleman Library is in the process of obtaining a copy of his most recent book for its Special Collections, and the university’s Black Archives was given a complimentary copy.
In addition, Thomas has another publication underway that is set to be released this fall: “A Band in Every School: Portraits of Historically Black School Bands in Florida.”
That book will be a second edition following a first one published in 2010. Thomas says it will contain a historical account of the Florida Association of Band Directors and additional photographs of high school bands that were organized during segregation.
Yet another picture book portrays the evolution of FAMU’s campus from the late 1800s to present, and will feature a compilation of the university’s buildings and who they are all named after. “There’s so much history on the campus of Florida A&M, and it’s important for us to capture that history,” Thomas said.
