Gladys Stone Wright

Gladys Stone Wright (born 1925) was an American band director. She was among the first woman band directors in the United States, and was the first one in Oregon. She is also a composer, author, music judge, and clinician. Wright won multiple awards.

Personal life

Wright was born in 1925 in Wasco, California. Her childhood was spent in Oregon at a lumber camp, and she started to learn music when she received a year's worth of free piano lessons along with a $5 clarinet. Wright attended Lebanon High School, where she was part of the school's band and newspaper. She graduated from high school in 1943. She was educated at Willamette University for one year and then attended the University of Oregon in 1948. She received her undergraduate and master's degree from the university. Her husband was the Purdue University band director Al G. Wright.

Career

Wright was a high school band director at a time when it was considered unusual for a woman to be a band instructor. Many school administrators were against hiring women to conduct a band. Wright was the second woman to become a member of the American School Band Directors Association, which had 450 men as members. In Oregon, Wright conducted the band at Elmira Union High School for five years. During Wright's final year at Elmira Union, the high school's band joined the North-West Music Educators' Conference. Wright said of the conference, "It was the only time they had had a woman director, and the clinic session was packed by male directors just to see what a woman could do." The male band directors applauded the performance of Elmira Union High School. She was first woman band director in Oregon.

She founded the Women Band Directors National Association and was a part of the North American Congress of Bands. Wright served as a member of various band-related organizations. Wright was the first woman to be guest conductor of the United States Navy Band and the Goldman Band. Over 22 years, Wright has received "consecutive superior ratings" for the bands that she led. She is also a composer, author, music judge, and clinician. She has written for national magazines as well as written the compositions "The Big Bowl March" and "Trumpets and Tabards".

Awards

In 1969, Wright received a citation of excellence from the National Band Association. Wright won the Tau Beta Sigma "National Award for Service to Music" at the University of Michigan in 1971. The award "recognizes the contributions made by distinguished female conductors, composers, educators, administrators, artists, and clinicians" who have helped promote bands as a "musical art form". In 1999, Wright was the first woman to be elected to the National Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors. Her induction ceremony was held on February 6, 1999, and the Band Conductors Hall of Fame building. On February 5 of the same year, she was the Honored Guest Conductor of the Troy State University Symphony Band.