James Clifton Williams Jr. (26 March 1923– 12 February 1976) was born in Traskwood, Arkansas

Traskwood, Arkansas

Traskwood is a town in Saline County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 548 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

, United States. He began playing French horn, piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, and mellophone

Mellophone

The mellophone is a brass instrument that is typically used in place of the horn in marching bands or drum and bugle corps....

 early on and played in the band at Little Rock High School. In his senior class of 600, he was voted for being the most outstanding in artistry, talent, and versatility.

As a professional horn player he would go on to perform with the San Antonio

San Antonio Symphony

The San Antonio Symphony is a full-time professional symphony orchestra based in San Antonio, Texas. Its season runs from late September to early June...

 and New Orleans Symphony Orchestras. Williams also served in the Army Air Corps

United States Army Air Corps

The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...

 band as a drum major, composing in his spare time.

Education

He attended Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

 (B.M., 1947) where he was a pupil of Helen Gunderson and the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

 (M.M., 1949) where he studied with Bernard Rogers

Bernard Rogers

Bernard Rogers was an American composer.Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloch, Percy Goetschius, and Nadia Boulanger. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Hartt School, and the Eastman School of Music...

 and Howard Hanson

Howard Hanson

Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...

. It was Howard Hanson who led Williams to write for the wind band rather than the orchestra, counseling Williams that he would get larger audiences and a larger range of organizations to perform his music in doing so.

During his musical studies at Louisiana State University Williams joined the fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...

, the largest, oldest musical fraternity in America.

Tenure

In 1949 Williams joined the composition department at the University of Texas School of Music. He taught there until he was appointed Chair of the Theory and Composition Department at University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

 in 1966. Williams retained this position until his death from stomach cancer in 1976. His composition students included W. Francis McBeth

W. Francis McBeth

William Francis McBeth was born March 9, 1933, in Ropesville, Texas .McBeth is a prolific composer, whose wind band works are highly respected. His primary musical influences include Clifton Williams, Bernard Rogers, and Howard Hanson...

, Lawrence Weiner and John Barnes Chance

John Barnes Chance

John Barnes Chance was a composer, born in Beaumont, Texas. Chance studied composition with Clifton Williams at the University of Texas, Austin, and is best known for his concert band works, which include Variations on a Korean Folk Song, Incantation and Dance, and Blue Lake Overture...

.

Compositions

Williams' early compositions were for orchestra and he would later achieve great success writing for concert band. One of his earliest works, Fanfare and Allegro, was completed in 1954 but was considered, at the time, exceptionally difficult by the bands (including some military bands) that attempted to perform it. Thus, Williams laid the work aside for some time. The American Bandmasters Association then announced its first Ostwald Composition Prize in the winter of 1955. Williams slightly revised Fanfare and Allegro and entered into this contest. Fanfare and Allegro won the inaugural American Bandmasters Association

American Bandmasters Association

The American Bandmasters Association was formed in 1929 by Edwin Franko Goldman to promote concert band music. Goldman sought to raise esteem for concert bands among musicians and audiences...

's Ostwald Award

Ostwald Award

The Sousa/Ostwald Award is an annual award given by the American Bandmasters Association for a composition for concert band. It was first awarded in 1956, after band uniform suppliers Ernest and Adolph Ostwald established the ABA/Ostwald Award for the best band composition written in the previous...

for original band literature in 1956. The first performance of the revised work, at the 1956 ABA convention, won rave reviews and the work moved rapidly to the forefront of serious wind literature. Williams won the award again in 1957 for Symphonic Suite. Williams entered the competition for a third time in 1957 with an earlier work, his Symphonic Essays of 1953, but withdrew the work the day before the award winner was to be announced, feeling that winning a new competition a third consecutive time would discourage other equally worthy composers. It was not revealed until several years later that Symphonic Essays was, in fact, set to be the winner of the 1958 ABA prize. The San Antonio Symphony commissioned Williams to compose a work for its 25th anniversary. He composed five symphonic dances which he would later arrange for concert band. The primary publishers of his wind music included Southern Music, Summy Birchard, Piedmont, C. L. Barnhouse, and University of Miami Music Publications.

The following is a partial list of band compositions by Clifton Williams. He considered "Ramparts" to be his best work, and his wife Maxine wore a charm bracelet with six charms, each charm representing a significant band work. The charm for "Ramparts" was the largest. Works marked with an asterisk are unpublished; all others are published although some may have gone out of print over the years.

• Academic Processional (1962)
• Air Force Band of the West (1964)
• Andalusia (*1970)
• Arioso (1958)
• Band of the Hour (*1968)
• Border Festival (1966)
• Caccia and Chorale (1973)
• Castle Gap (1964)
• Concertino for Percussion and Band (1959)
• Dedicatory Overture (1964)
• Dramatic Essay (1958)
• Fanfare and Allegro (1954, rev 1956)
• Festival (1961)
• Future Music Leaders of America March (1974)
• Henderson Festival (1967)
• Hermitage (1975)
• Hill Country Ballad (1955)
• Killian (1970)
• Laredo (1963)
• Lyric Psalm (*1957)
• March Lamar (1969)
• Pandean Fable (*1965)
• Pastorale (1960)
• Patriots (1970)
• Ramparts (1967)
• Regal Procession (1957)
• The Sinfonians (1960)
• Solumn Fugue (1960)
• Sonata Allegro (*1971)
• Songs of Heritage (1975, completed by W. Francis McBeth and Harold Walters, 1978)
• Strategic Air Command March (1965)
• Symphonic Dances (1963-65; No. 2 and No. 3 published)

No. 1 (Comanche Ritual)

No. 2 (Military Ball: The Maskers)

No. 3 (Fiesta)

No. 4 (Square Dance)

No. 5 (New Generation)

• Symphonic Essays (*1953)
• Symphonic Suite (*1957)

I. Intrada

II. Chorale

III. March

IV. Antique Dance

V. Jubilee

• Texas Bands (*1969)
• Trail Scenes (1968)

I. Round Up

II. Nighthawk

III. Railhead

• Trilogy for Band (1964)

I. Declamation

II. Elegy

III. Quickstep March

• Variation Overture (1962)