Himie Voxman (1912-2011)

 Legendary educator, administrator, and clarinetist Himie Voxman passed away yesterday at the age of 99.  Voxman, who served as director of the University of Iowa School of Music from 1954-1980, is a familiar name to clarinetists around the world due to his publications of method books and chamber music for woodwinds.

photo by Tom Jorgensen; from uiowa.edu

 According to Hustedt's dissertation (see below), Voxman began traveling to Europe in 1954 in search of unpublished wind music from the 18th and 19th centuries.  As it was not under copyright, he was then able to arrange and adapt much of this music to eventually create hundreds of methods, collections, chamber arrangements, and solo editions for wind instruments. 

Voxman's well-known publications for clarinet include the following:

-Rubank Advanced Method for Clarinet Vol. 1 and 2
-Classical Studies for Clarinet
-Introducing the Alto or Bass Clarinet
-Concert and Contest Collection for Clarinet
-Selected Studies for Clarinet
-Selected Duets for Clarinet Vol. 1 and 2

Further reading:

• Iowa City Press-Citizen article about Voxman's life at UI
• Michele Ann Bowen Hustedt's 2010 DMA Dissertation "The Life and Career of Himie Voxman", including a full list of Voxman's publications
• Himie Voxman Wikipedia article
• Short interview with Voxman as part of NAMM oral history project
• Article about Voxman's 90th birthday celebration at University of Iowa