In 1957, The Music Man<\/em> took the theater world by storm, winning six Tonys and becoming what was then the fifth-longest-running musical in Broadway history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A 1962 film adaptation received six Academy Award nominations and was the third-highest-grossing film of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But did you know that the show\u2019s most famous song gives a shout-out to one of Ithaca\u2019s\u2014and Cornell\u2019s\u2014most notable musicians?<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div> Set in a sleepy Iowa town in 1912, The Music Man<\/em> focuses on con man Harold Hill, who convinces townspeople to buy instruments for a nonexistent band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ll feel something akin to the electric thrill I once enjoyed,\u201d Hill tells them in the intro to the show-stopper \u201cSeventy-Six Trombones,\u201d \u201cwhen Gilmore, Liberati, Pat Conway, the Great Creatore, W.C. Handy, and John Phillip Sousa all came to town on the very same historic day!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll feel something akin to the electric thrill I once enjoyed when Gilmore, Liberati, Pat Conway, the Great Creatore, W.C. Handy, and John Phillip Sousa all came to town on the very same historic day!<\/p>\nHarold Hill<\/strong>, The Music Man<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n While you might recognize Sousa as the composer of patriotic marches like \u201cThe Stars and Stripes Forever,\u201d the other names comprise a Mount Rushmore of popular bandleaders of the era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The turn of the 20th century was the golden age of community bands, and these leaders were akin to modern pop stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an era of limited mass media\u2014before film, radio, and television\u2014community bands were a major source of entertainment, with their performances at conventions, parades, competitions, and fairs often attracting crowds of 10,000 to 25,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And at the genre\u2019s center were Pat Conway and his Ithaca Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conway was born in Troy, NY, in 1865, within months of the University\u2019s founding. Growing up in a small village outside Ithaca, he joined the Homer Cornet Band and then took charge of the Cortland Band\u2014both considered particularly talented regional ensembles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1894, one of his bands competed at a volunteer firefighters\u2019 convention in Ithaca, which led to a variety of musical opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Conway began giving brass instrument lessons at the Ithaca Conservatory of Music (the future Ithaca College) and formed the Ithaca Band within the local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also took charge of the Cornell Cadet Band\u2014laying the foundation for what would evolve into the Big Red Marching Band, which separated from the military in the 1940s.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/p>\n\n\n\n As its first non-student leader, Conway expanded the ensemble\u2019s repertoire and reach, taking it on the road for concerts in Elmira and Owego. On campus, the band became a regular at pep rallies, leading parades to send athletic teams off to away games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it was actually Conway\u2019s community band that became a fixture in the Cornell social scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the first non-student leader of the Cornell Cadet Band, Conway expanded its repertoire and reach, taking it on the road for concerts in Elmira and Owego. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The Ithaca Band played at baseball and football games, crew regattas, dances, carnivals, and other events. It also performed regularly at Ithaca\u2019s Renwick Park, a private lakeside venue that the city later purchased and reopened as Stewart Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The band began to be billed as \u201cConway\u2019s Band\u201d or \u201cPatrick Conway and His Famous Band,\u201d and in 1908 its growing fame forced its leader to stop conducting the cadet band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conway\u2019s band toured nationally, performing at state fairs, the St. Louis World\u2019s Fair, the Cincinnati Zoo, the Canadian National Exhibition, South Dakota\u2019s Corn Palace, the Pan-American Exposition, New York Giants baseball games, and more\u2014as his Ithaca appearances became more like celebrity visits home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When World War I broke out, Conway was commissioned to lead music for the U.S. Army Air Service at Waco, TX, organizing the first band program for what would evolve into the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conway\u2019s band toured nationally, performing at state fairs, the St. Louis World\u2019s Fair, the Cincinnati Zoo, the Canadian National Exhibition, and more\u2014as his Ithaca appearances became more like celebrity visits home.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n By the 1920s, bands\u2019 glory days were waning; Conway slowed his touring schedule and launched the Conway Military Band School, affiliated with the Ithaca Conservatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the first schools of its kind, it graduated several notable performers and conductors of the era. Conway led it for seven years\u2014until his death at age 63\u2014and it was later absorbed into the new Ithaca College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMr. Conway enjoyed the respect of everybody in his profession,\u201d the famed Sousa wrote of his passing, \u201cand his loss will not be easy to replace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Conway may not be as well-known as Sousa today, he left a legacy at Cornell, I.C., and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And when the National Band Association\u2019s Hall of Fame of Distinguished Conductors was established in 1980, he and Sousa were named inaugural members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An expert on Big Red lore, Corey Ryan Earle \u201907 teaches \u201cThe First American University,\u201d a wildly popular spring semester course on Cornell history.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Top: Conway (center) and students of his military band school in Ithaca’s downtown Dewitt Park. (All images provided, unless otherwise indicated.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Published April XX, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A formative influence on the music programs at both Cornell and I.C., bandleader Pat Conway was a famous name in his era<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":69353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[62880,41564,7973],"footnotes":""},"categories":[657],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-69326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-storytime-with-corey"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/Cornellians_Corey_Illustration_v5-788x1024.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Pat](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Conway_head_shot_from_program-A.jpg\")
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