School reorganization in rural Iowa was a difficult thing back in the 1950s. Earlham was a rival school of Dexter and, all of a sudden, we were told we’d be bussed to Earlham for the rest of our school days. For me, that was all of high school.
I went from a class of 13 eighth graders at Dexter, to a class of 30-some freshman at Earlham.
One of the best things about it, though, was we got Jack Oatts as band director. Earlham was his first job as a school band director, beginning in 1955.
I’d started out playing a trumpet and a clarinet with Dexter school instruments, but didn’t own one. Mr. Oatts worked at sorting out what kind of players he inherited from Dexter, and noting that so many of us could already read music. Since I didn’t own a horn, I played in the percussion section my freshman year.
When Mr. Oatts realized how many unused French horns he had in storage, he talked seven or eight of us into taking lessons on them. It was my instrument during the rest of high school. The school had one double French horn, which I played my senior year.
Mr. Oatts, a saxophonist, also wrote and arranged music. According to the 1962 Earlham Yearbook, the chamber band gave “the premier public performance of a new composition especially for the concert band entitled ‘Symphonic Sketch for Band’ by Jack Oatts. This number was a blend of old Roman, Oriental, and Asiatic harmonies are using along with African and Jazz rhythms.”
My senior year there were eleven French horns in a high school band of about sixty-five instruments. Mr. Oatts arranged “Dancing in the Dark” for the French horns and suggested we wear our homecoming dresses for the concert. Homecoming dresses were tame compared with today.
Gloria Neal is my sister. Judy Neal is my cousin. Marilyn Lawson, Jane Morford, Pat Willrich, Mary Nevitt were rural “Dexter girls.” Seven of us French horn players rode to Earlham school on the same bus.
The Earlham High School French horn choir earned “I” ratings at contest. Playing a piece our own band director arranged just for us was a delightful part of high school. Jack Oatts was an active member of the Iowa Bandmasters Association, Jack Oatts was recognized as the “Father of Iowa High School Jazz” and was named to the Iowa Jazz Educators Hall of Fame and the Des Moines Community Jazz Center Hall of Fame. More about Jack Oatts.