The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education 17, no. 2 (January 1996): 85 - 97. Reprinted by permission of Mark Fonder, editor of the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. Early Years Born in Centerville, Iowa in 1912 to Morris and Mollie Voxman, Himie Voxman had little interest in music until he was twelve years old. Fascination for the subject came in 1924 when Voxman's classroom teacher submitted his name for instrumental instruction with William Gower, private teacher and director of the Centerville Municipal Band. Voxman's mother was hesitant, fearing that playing a wind instrument might be detrimental to the boy's asthma. However, the family doctor suggested he try it. Himie's earnings from a local grocery store provided the wherewithal for clarinet lessons, and armed with an old $35 rubber Albert system instrument, Voxman began studying the summer following his eighth-grade year. Whether playing the clarinet, or because the family moved to a different house and new surroundings, Voxman's asthma soon disappeared. He was on his way to establishing the Voxman name as a mainstay in instrumental music education. (1) Lesson material of the time was limited to a few advanced conservatory methods. This prompted Gower to write out the first lessons for his beginning students, whom he later transferred to the Klose method. These experiences, coupled with the sight-reading work he did in silent movie orchestras, began shaping Voxman's ideas about the importance of rhythm and quality literature in music instruction. (2) Voxman progressed quickly on the clarinet and was able to enroll in the high school band and orchestra by the beginning of the fall term. He recalled that although most of his instruction was exemplary, the orchestra director instructed the clarinetists to pull out the joints of their instruments to cover the parts for clarinet. (3) In addition to the Centerville municipal band, Voxman began playing in other area town bands conducted by Gower, and began teaching privately. A stint with the Murdoch J. McDonald band at the Missouri State Fair in 1928 led to a short tour, ending when Voxman decided to return to Centerville to finish high school. An attempt to return to the band upon graduation failed when thousands of theater musicians were thrown out of work because of talking motion pictures. McDonald, rather than rehiring Voxman and other single musicians, felt obliged to hire former employees with families. While this proved to be the end of Voxman's professional band career, it set the stage for his teaching, research, and orchestral careers. (4) Undergraduate Years In addition to music, Voxman had a fascination for chemistry, which was in a period of advancement in synthetic drug development in the late 1920s. This fascination led him to enter the University of Iowa as a chemical engineering major. He also began teaching clarinet privately at this time. Voxman recalled that he selected chemical engineering rather than chemistry because engineering students were exempted from physical education requirements. He joined the band, which was part of the military department until 1936, exempting him also from the required military training. Several years later, to further support himself in addition to his teaching, he formed a small orchestra to play at university plays in McBride Auditorium. (5) Voxman continued to play in the Centerville Municipal Band during his first two years at the University, hitchhiking from Iowa City to sight-read the Thursday evening concerts. The next morning he would ride with Gower to the city limits to find another ride back to Iowa City. During his junior year he began playing in the Tri-Cities (now Quad-Cities) Symphony under Ludwig Becker, which led to a position teaching woodwinds in the Davenport schools. (6) A request to perform in Handel's Messiah under the direction of the University of Iowa music department's head, Philip Greeley Clapp, in 1929, served as Voxman's initial contact with the music department. …