Tommy Fry

Thomas Fry was born On October 23, 1933 in Sweetwater, Texas. 

The Great Depression taught his parents the value of education, which they were denied, and strong personal and work ethics.   They taught him to love education and the arts.  During Tommy’s sixth grade year, the Sweetwater High School Band played a concert at Eastward Elementary, and Tommy was enthralled.  The program featured a wonderful cornet soloist, a girl, and Tommy was certain that if a girl could play that well then he, a boy, could play equally as well.  The die was cast and a horn – a cornet – had to be found for the budding musician.  His dad finally found an instrument. Not only did the horn suffice as an instrument, but also twenty years later it served wonderfully as an attractive musical lamp.

Tommy diligently practiced his cornet and, though he tried hard, the sounds were not quite as melodious as those of Rafael Mendez or Billy Butterfield, to whom Tommy listened to religiously.  Tommy needed lessons.  Charlie Fry was assigned the task of finding a music teacher.  Charlie remembered that a janitor at the elementary school, named Shorty, had played with a circus band years earlier.  Shorty was not strong on pedagogy, but he wrote out the tunes from his circus days and taught Tommy by rote.  By the time summer band began, Tommy dazzled his fellow beginners with a magnificent repertoire of the great old circus tunes.

After graduating from Newman High School in 1951, Tommy received a scholarship to attend McMurry College.  While at McMurry, Tommy studied theory and composition with Dr. Macon Sumerlin and they began a friendship that remains strong today. 

Tommy accepted his first job as band director in his hometown junior high school in 1955.  One week before school began, he learned that he was also the choir director.  After arguing vehemently that he was ill-prepared to direct a choir, he conceded to the principal’s logic that bands and choirs use the same notes and “music is music.”  The band did well at contest that year; the choir did better, and received a first

Through his interactions with band directors, who frequented the music store where he worked, Tommy honed his skills as a clinician, advisor, and adjudicator.  He also practiced his craft of writing and many bands became the testing grounds for his compositions.  As his craft improved, his reputation grew and his compositions were accepted for publication.

His wife encouraged Tommy to return to teaching and in 1979, he accepted the band director position at McMurry College in Abilene.  He and Macon Sumerlin had daily coffee breaks at the Kettle, where the waitresses supplied them with napkins for their compositions so they would stop writing on the table. 

In 1989, just after ending his Bi-State Band Camp, Tommy suffered a heart attack that required quadruple bypass surgery.  He recovered from the surgery well, but his vocal chords were damaged which kept him blissfully silent for two months.  In 1990, because of his limited vocal capacity, Tommy accepted the teaching responsibilities of his now retired friend, Macon, and began teaching theory and composition. 

In May of 1997, Tommy retired from McMurry University after eighteen years of teaching. 

Three Bagatelles is a collection of three short works with each piece exploring a somewhat different element. The common element for all three pieces is the use of the intervals based on G, C and D. The “Giocoso” uses multiple meters and invites the performers to have fun, as it’s name implies. The “Chorale” is a nice, smooth and tonal contrast to the first movement. The “Scherzo” closes the piece and is typically quick-moving.