Oklahoma City University Bands | Oklahoma Musicians

The documented story

Contemporary evidence places an OCU band in 1931. The university documents its formal 1936 band organization, wartime survival, marching history, and later wind and jazz programs. This supports the documented program or period only; earlier and later activity remains separately qualified.

People and leadership

The university documents its formal 1936 band organization, wartime survival, marching history, and later wind and jazz programs.

Community and organization

Oklahoma City University Bands is treated as an institutional college or university ensemble. Institutional continuity is not automatically converted into uninterrupted ensemble continuity.

Reading the evidence

The reviewed evidence supports 1931 newspaper evidence; formally organized/reorganized 1936; present as the verified program history. Any newly identified hiatus, reorganization, or successor relationship should be added explicitly rather than assumed.

Questions for further research

A fuller leadership succession, membership history, selected performance chronology, and image provenance would enrich the Oklahoma City University Bands packet, but none is required to support its present text-readiness judgment.

People named in related records

Names are retained as recorded in their source contexts.

Flo Hobin — guest soprano performer (1947)
Hazel Wingate — guest cornet performer (1947)
Jimmy Harbert — guest cornet performer (1947)
Dianne Vandergriff — clarinet performer (1954)
Don Kramer — trumpet soloist (1954)
Frank Ristau — trumpet soloist (1954)
Walter Baker — trumpet soloist (1954)
Joel Whitten — trumpet soloist (1954)
William D. Revelli — guest conductor (1951-02-02/1951-02-03)
H. Bernard Fitzgerald — guest conductor (1951-02-02/1951-02-03)

Dated evidence in this record

1906
Official Oklahoma City University history states that the Epworth College Band was established in 1906 and intended to support itself through regular performances and concerts.
1936-09-15 – 1936-11-25
OCU history records a September 15, 1936 first rehearsal with 35 charter members, growth to 50 by the first semester and 75 by the academic year’s end, a November 3 community-service performance, and a November 25 formal concert.
1938
A 1938 OCU yearbook account describes a 75-player band making approximately 60 public appearances before more than 80,000 people and appearing on 55 radio broadcasts.
1938-02-25 – 1938-02-27
OCU presented the First Annual Southwestern Band Festival in February 1938 with ten Oklahoma high-school bands and a concluding 1,000-piece massed concert at the Oklahoma City Municipal Auditorium.
1940 – 1943
OCU yearbook history documents regular radio broadcasts, football and basketball performances, monthly or formal concerts, civic and convention appearances, parades, school concerts, clinics, church programs, and a distinct marching-band and symphonic-band structure during 1940–1943.
1947
OCU's 1947 yearbook history records wartime personnel loss, rationing, cancellation of football activity, civilian-defense and Will Rogers Field appearances, and continuation of regular concerts.
1947 – 1954
OCU history names early guest performers, soloists, and guest conductors in 1947-1954 programs.
1948 – 1949
OCU's 1948–1949 histories document a 57-member band, concerts, parades, broadcasts, new uniforms, Band Day for approximately 20 Oklahoma high-school bands, a conductor clinic for approximately 100 state directors, football performances, and formal and outdoor concerts.
1951
OCU's 1951 history records the fifth annual Band Clinic, participation by seven Oklahoma high-school bands and one San Antonio band, and a massed-band concert.
1954 – 1955
OCU's 1954–1955 histories document concert tours, concerts, parades, basketball and football activity, pep assemblies, a Tulsa concert, a Christmas Festival appearance, and free concerts throughout Oklahoma.
1957 – 1959
OCU's 1957 history records selection of the Symphonic Band for a color educational film involving saxophone-and-band repertoire; the 1958–1959 histories document continuing school functions, basketball performances, concerts, and a Mother's Day Concert.
1960
OCU's 1960 historical material describes a 72-member Symphonic Band, three or four public concerts per year, a February band clinic, recording activity, and a pep band at basketball games.
1961
OCU's 1961 historical material describes Symphonic Band stereo-disc recordings prepared for national distribution.
1963
OCU's 1963 historical material describes an approximately 75-member Symphonic Band performing concerts, clinics, and contests, with participation beyond music majors and a leadership transition after the long-time director resigned.
1963 – 1999
OCU's official recording-archive description lists 1963–1986 reel-to-reel holdings, 1986–1997 cassette holdings, 1997–2010 CD holdings, and an earliest listed 1963–1964 OKCU Concert Band recording.
2015-01
OCU’s Wind Philharmonic performed as a collegiate honor ensemble at the Oklahoma Music Educators Association conference in Tulsa in January 2015.
2019
OCU’s official program history identifies the debut of its Wind Ensemble in 2019 as an auditioned ensemble open to OCU students and performing four concerts each academic year.
2026
OCU’s current Wind Bands page identifies the Wind Philharmonic and Wind Ensemble as active auditioned ensembles with recurring annual performances and 2026 concert listings.
2026-02-05
OCU’s official calendar documents a February 5, 2026 Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra concert.