Thomas C. Bardwell, Sr.

Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts

Life Long Band Enthusiast and R.B. Hall Expert

Notes by Robert Hudson, reprinted from the Second Annual R.B. Hall Day Program, June 26, 1982

 

Thomas C. Bardwell was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on October 2, 1917. For many years he has urged the establishment of fitting tributes to R. B. Hall. He has collaborated with many organization in the performance and recognition of Hall, including the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fielder, U.S. Coast Guard Band, the U.S. Navy Band, the Bay State Band, His Majesty's Black Watch Band, J.M. Scots and Irish Guards Band, as well as college, high school and community bands.

He established the "R.B. Hall Memorial Band Tape Anthology" for the purpose of providing a living memorial to R.B. Hall which embraces band music as a whole. He has provided copies of out-of-print music of R. B. Hall to bands.

Mr. Bardwell provided a great deal of data and documentation to the R. B. Hall Committee with interesting details regarding several of the marches as to why they were written, such as the R.L.I.B. March (Richmond, Virginia Light Infantry Blues) and has a lot to say regarding the similarities between Hall's "American Cadet" March and Sousa's "High School Cadet" March.

About R.B. Hall Day, Mr. Bardwell comments, "Your almost unbelievable (after going on four decades of efforts on behalf of proper, just and long overdue recognition of the genius of r. B. Hall) and stunning undertaking arrived in the noon mail yesterday. A breath of FULLY FRESH AIR, after seemingly futile lifetime effort, fraught in some cases with near hostility and unbridled suspicion as to motives regarding Hall; and adamance (a personal opinion to be sure) that in his idiomatic category, R. B. Hall was AND IS, the best America ever produced. Certainly a word of PROFOUND GRATITUDE and CONGRATULATIONS should be offered you and staff, Polly Reeves, Beverly Bustin, Sylvia Lund and the whole Augusta Symphony Board of Directors and the R. B. Hall Committee, for your determined and forthright effort to reverse and put to rights a musical travesty, which as before, bounded on near criminal dereliction of the memory of one who gave so much, so fine, and received so little...even in death. R.B. Hall, STATE OF MAINE BANDMASTER-NEW ENGLAND MARCH KING."

Memorial of Thomas C, Bardwell, written in June 1999 by Wendy Frost,

Treasurer and Clarinetist of the Waterville R. B. Hall Band

The R. B. Hall Band has recently learned of the passing of a dear friend and colleague, Tom Bardwell from Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.

Mr. Bardwell was born on October 2, 1917 in Plainfield, New Jersey, the son of the late Harry and Josephine Gallagher Bardwell. He was raised in Plainfield, graduating form the Peddie Academy in Heightstowm, New Jersey, where he was bugler for three and a half years.

Mr. Bardwell's interest in music developed early in life with his first band membership at the age of 7. The love of music continued throughout adult life, with his participation in several bands, including his 50+ years as a member of the Vineyard Haven Band. Bardwell's interest in music developed into a passion in preserving the American tradition of marching band music. He amassed a huge collection of over 2,000 live tape recordings, nearly filling a cottage beside his home with an anthology of band music in memory of Maine's own, "March King", Robert Browne Hall.

Mr. Bardwell's anthology was ultimately acquired by the Special Collections Branch of the University of Maine's Folger Library in 1990. His collection included recordings from over 1,000 bands from Japan, Britain, Switzerland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the U.S. This anthology included not only recordings, but interviews with Arthur Flagg Roundy, Karl Lawrence King, and John Gooch as well as many other of similar stature. Bardwell's anthology has been hailed as "an asset to the Special Collections Branch at Folger Library", and "a visible and ongoing addition to the field of Maine Studies."

In addition to his anthology, Mr. Bardwell was tireless in his efforts to get recognition for R.B. Hall. He was one of the people responsible for legislation proclaiming the last Saturday in June as R.B. Hall Day "to honor and commemorate a great Maine composer". Other projects included trying to get the United States Post Office to issue a stamp honoring Hall, and suggesting that a portion of the Maine Turnpike be dedicated in Hall's honor.

We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Mr. Bardwell's family and friends. His friendship and support will be greatly missed.