Meredith Willson (1902–1984)

Storyline
It's the early 20th-century American Midwest. A con man going by the assumed name Harold Hill has used several different schemes to bilk the unsuspecting, and now travels from town to town pretending to be a professor of music - from the Gary (Indiana) Conservatory of Music, class of '05 - who solves all the respective towns' youth problems by forming boys' marching bands. He takes money from the townsfolk to buy instruments, music, instructional materials, and uniforms for their sons. However, in reality, he has no degree and knows nothing about music, and after all the materials arrive and are distributed, he absconds with all the money, never to be seen again. Many of the traveling salesmen in the territory have been negatively impacted by him, as the townsfolk then become suspicious of any stranger trying to sell them something. For Harold's scheme to work, he must gain the trust of the local music teacher, usually by wooing her, regardless of her appearance. And if the town doesn't believe it has a youth problem needing to be fixed, he will manufacture one for them. That is the case when he arrives in River City, Iowa, population 2,212, where he will have some unexpected help from Marcellus Washburn, a friend and former grifter colleague who now lives in River City and has gone straight, but he still wants to make sure Harold survives his stay in town. River City's music teacher is spinster and town librarian Marian Paroo. He's able to impress all the other River Citizens with his fast-talking sales pitches, but not suspicious Marian, whose hard-as-nails exterior is unlike all the other River Citizens. Her exterior is partly due to her somewhat removed standing in the town, as all the gossipy housewives believe she is a smut peddler - encouraging the teenagers to read authors such as Chaucer and Balzac - and mistakenly believe that she got her position as librarian through less-than-scrupulous means. What Harold does not know is that one way to Marian is through her young adolescent brother, Winthrop Paroo, a sullen boy who has withdrawn from life since their father's death two years before, when he started to lisp. Harold starts to fall for Marian, something that never happened with any of the other music teachers. Further complications may ensue if any of those traveling salesmen who have been following his route through the territory catch up with and expose him.… (meer)

I was desperate for a good non fiction book to complete my book report project for school, and I found one. And There I Was with My Piccolo by Meredith Willsom tells his story from his early beginnings as a child in Iowa to his bold journey to New York that led him to play with the world famous John Phillip Souza, legendary Band music Composer who actually helped him learn to read a musical score. As a band student myself I really like his funny stories of playing the flute and piccolo even though I do not play the piccolo. I like the story he tells about the bass clarinet player who had been hiding behind the first clarinet player who called in sick. It was then that they discovered that the second chair did not know how to play a note, but had been "playing" with John Phillip Souza's band for three years. He also tells of the incredible night when he played Stars and Stripes Forever with 400 other band members in Madison Square Garden. What makes this so good is that although he is playing with the greatest composers and conductors America has known in the most important Halls and Orchestras of New York, he doesn't realize he was in the middle of history as it was being made. He was just a small town guy from Iowa wanting to play his flute and piccolo, but he found his way to the center of musical history being made.

He continues to tell how he made his way to Hollywood and began composing for films and even made the hit parade. I knew he had played the lead character in the Music Man, but I had no idea he had done so many other interesting and important things.

I would recommend this book to parents and children alike because it is funny and entertaining and is appropriate for young and old alike. I personally enjoyed this book and learned that you can only see your accomplishments and differences later as you look back on your life. What an amazing life Meredith Willson lived!… (meer)