| William M. Toland |
If you are a band director, there’s a good chance that you have performed Satiric Dances by Norman Dello Joio. The three-movement band piece was commissioned in 1975 for the bi-centennial of the battles of Lexington and Concord by William M. Toland and the Concord Band. The piece is most associated with Toland as it was the first in a long line of works for band that he and his successors commissioned.
Bill Toland, 80, died on January 25, 2012. He was Music Director of the Concord and from 1962 to 1995, and also had a distinguished career as band director and assistant director of music at Bedford High School from 1957 through 1984. For his work in Bedford, he received the DeMolay Award for Exemplary Teaching and the Lowell Mason Award for Outstanding Leadership in Music Education from the Massachusetts Music Educators Association. Active in the MMEA Northeast District, Toland hosted the Northeast District Music Festival in 1961 with the Bedford football field literally filled with uniformed band players from the various marching bands. He was Northeast band manager frequently and in later years conducted District bands.
