Thomas Tyra | |
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 On the Field at LSU (ca Early 1960s) | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Norman Tyrakowski |
| Born | April 17, 1933 Cicero, Illinois, USA |
| Died | July 7, 1995(1995-07-07) (aged 62) Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| Occupation(s) | Music educator,Bandmaster,Composer,Arranger,Lyricist |
| Years active | 1953 – 1989 |
Thomas Tyra (bornThomas Norman Tyrakowski) (April 17, 1933 – July 7, 1995) was an Americancomposer,arranger,bandmaster, andmusic educator.
Born and raised inCicero, Illinois, Tyra was the only child of first-generationPolish-American parents who were employed byWestern Electric's nearbyHawthorne Works. He graduated fromMorton High School in Cicero (Diploma 1951),Northwestern University (BSM 1954, GBSM 1955, Music Education/Composition) and theUnited States Navy School of Music (1956) where he would refine his composition and arranging skills while fulfilling his military service obligations. In 1971, Tyra earned hisPh.D in Music Education from theUniversity of Michigan under the auspices ofAllen Britton, Emil Holz, and long-timeDirector of Bands,William Revelli.[1]
Following graduation from Northwestern in 1955, Tyra began his career as a high school band director inDes Moines, Iowa. The following year, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was ordered to Washington, D.C., where he fulfilled his military service obligations as a staff arranger and rehearsal conductor at the Navy School of Music. Upon his honorable discharge in late 1957 - followed by a brief teaching assignment atMorton College[2] in his hometown of Cicero - Tyra joined theLouisiana State University faculty in the Fall of 1958, serving as an assistant to theDirector of Bands L. Bruce Jones. In 1959, LSU elevated Tyra to the position of 14th Bandmaster of theTiger Marching Band, making him - at age 26 - the nation's youngest director of a major university marching band.[3]
That same year Tyra created theLSU Ballet Corps dance line, launching what would in 1965, become theLSU Golden Girls.[4] Satisfying the constant demand for new musical content on the LSU gridiron was a small cadre of aspiring student composers and arrangers which includedBill Conti. Conti would later gain fame by penningGonna Fly Now, the theme song popularized by the 1976 hit filmRocky.[5] During his tenure, Tyra introducedHey, Fightin' Tigers, an adaptation ofHey, Look Me Over from the 1960 musicalWildcat! byCy Coleman andCarolyn Leigh. This team spirit song - later adopted by the LSU Golden Girls as their introductory theme - continues to be used at LSU athletic events today.
In 1964, Tyra was appointed Director of Bands atEastern Michigan University. In 1968, a young Max Plank joined theEMU Bands Program as Tyra's assistant. Together they forged a lifelong collaboration and friendship that would result in significant growth of the EMU's band program and its traditions. In 2002, Plank passed the leadership mantle toScott Boerma, ending an era that spanned over 38 years of EMU Band history.[6] After leaving EMU in 1977 and until 1985, Tyra headed theDepartment of Music atWestern Carolina University inCullowhee, North Carolina, strengthening its Music Education curriculum and planting the seeds of growth for its instrumental performance programs, including marching band. From 1985 until his retirement in 1989, he served as Professor and Dean of theCrane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam.[7]
He also held appointments as Director of the Ann Arbor Civic Band[8] (late 1960s to 1977) and guest Clinician at the Ontario Youth Music Camp[9] inBeaverton, Ontario, Canada (1970–73).
Tyra was a member of the Iota Chapter ofPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Northwestern University, theKappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma band service organization[10] and served as ΚΚΨ's National President from 1973 to 1975.[11] He was also a member ofASCAP and theAmerican Federation of Musicians.
Tyra wrote numerous original compositions, arrangements, and lyrics for works performed by wind ensembles, marching bands, military bands, and brass ensembles of all levels.
For beginning bands, Tyra wrote a series of compositions that he (whimsically) titledWholey Hymn,Modal March,Pentatonic Polka,Quartal Caper, andPolytonal Parade. Compositions and arrangements for intermediate bands includeTwo 17th Century Italian Songs and arrangements of Handel'sThe Messiah (Part I)[12] and "I'd Do Anything" from theLionel Bart musicalOliver!. HisTwo Gaelic Folk Songs (1964) - an arrangement of the two Irish patriotic tunesMolly Malone andWearing of the Green in the20th-century classical music idiom - remains in the standard repertoire for many intermediate band programs.[13] A third Gaelic tune,The Minstrel Boy, was also arranged by Tyra and originally intended to round out this collection. Never published, it is now part of the Music Department archives at Eastern Michigan University.
For more skilled ensembles, he penned many arrangements of pre-game and half-time music for the Northwestern, LSU and EMU Marching Bands, including nationally televised works performed by the Tiger Marching Band when LSU competed post-season at theSugar Bowl (1959, 1960), theOrange Bowl (1962), theCotton Bowl Classic (1963) and theBluebonnet Bowl (1964).[14] His original compositions includeSuite for Brass and Timpani,Three Christmas Miniatures,Ceremonial Sketch andIntravention. For Eastern Michigan University, Tyra composedEastern Variants, the music and lyrics forGo Green!, The Pride of the Peninsula,Huron War Cry,EMU Fanfare and the break strain for the Huron (now Eagle)Fight Song onYouTube. These compositions - integral to modern EMU band tradition - reflect the expertise he developed in writing for low brass voices while serving at the U.S. Navy School of Music.
As part of Northwestern University's early 1950s efforts to revitalize its school hymn (Quaecumque Sunt Vera), then Director-of-BandsJohn Paynter,[15] recruited Tyra - at the time an undergraduate music major, trumpet player and staff assistant for theWildcat Band - to craft English words to replace the hymn's traditional Latin verse. The earliest known recorded performance of their resulting collaboration - renamedAlma Mater (University Hymn)[16] - was made on October 3, 1953, by the Northwestern Glee Club.[17]
Paynter's instrumental/a cappella musical arrangement and Tyra's lyrics (. . . Hail to Purple, Hail to White, Hail to thee Northwestern . . . .) remain an integral part of Northwestern University tradition today, typically played by the Wildcat Band at the completion of their halftime performances and at Northwestern graduation ceremonies. See the Wildcat Band performing theNorthwestern Alma Mater onYouTube.
Tyra was married four times. In 1955, he married Suzanne Jocelyn Sheldon (Northwestern BSM 1955, b.1933 d.1973) of Chico, California. Their union produced his six - and only children. After divorcing in 1972, Suzanne "Sue" Tyra died in December 1973.[18] In May 1976, he married Valerie Suzanne Franklin (Eastern Michigan University BBA 1971) of Brooklyn, Michigan. They divorced in December 1980. In 1981, Tyra married Judith Ann Hastings Carpenter (b.1942, d.1987) of Pittsburg, Kansas, who preceded him in death.
Tyra's granddaughter,Emily Tyra,[19] is an established television, film and Broadway actress. Beginning in 2016, she joined the cast ofCBS Entertainment'sCode Black television series, portraying Dr. Noa Kean.
Following his 1989 retirement from the Crane School of Music, Tyra relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where he would spend his remaining years living nearby his daughters and their families. He died on July 7, 1995, of complications arising from leukemia. During his long illness, he liked to tell his doctors that he would put up a good fight, but it was their job to find a cure in time.
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