News
Tennessee Tech director of bands emeritus inducted into National Band Association Hall of Fame
When the National Band Association announced Joseph Hermann, Tennessee Tech University
director of bands emeritus, as one of three people to be inducted into their Hall
of Fame of Distinguished Conductors this past December, the first thing Hermann felt
was shock.
“It was an overwhelming thing,” he said. “Including the three of us who are being
added this year, there are 63 people in this hall of fame. The people who are on that
list are just unbelievable, like John Philip Sousa: the March King, known for ‘The
Stars and Stripes Forever.’ And then there’s people like Edwin Franko Goldman, Karl
King and Henry Fillmore – people who are really amazing. Then you look at this and
hear that your name is going in there with them. It’s just so unbelievable.”
Hermann almost didn’t attend the convention where the honor was announced, even though
he typically made it a point to attend. Out of the last 52 years, he has only missed
four of the annual conventions. When he expressed to his wife, Kay, that he thought
he might skip the December 2021 meeting, he was surprised when she protested. He was
even more surprised when he got a call from a friend who pressured him even harder,
claiming that one of Hermann’s good friends was going to be named to the hall of fame
and that this was something he shouldn’t miss.
“He said, ‘Joseph, listen to me. I want you to think about this. This is one of your
best friends in the world, so I want you to think about this. And when you thought
about it, and you decide that you're going, you call me back.’ Then when I tried to
argue, he said, ‘No, no, no, we're going to end this conversation right now, because
I want you to do the introduction.’”
Hermann finally agreed to go and prepared the introductory speech for his friend who
he had been told was receiving the honor. However, when he got to the convention,
he was stunned to find his own name being announced as one of the winners. His wife
and his friends had been in on the secret.
“It took me days to get over it. I was dumbstruck,” said Hermann. “My wife, she said,
‘You don't even seem excited about this.’ And I said, “No, it doesn't seem right.
I still can’t believe it!’”
Hermann worked at Tennessee Tech between 1989 and 2017, and won the Outstanding Faculty
Award for professional service, in addition to many other awards from national band
associations. He served on the board of directors for the prestigious American Bandmasters
Association, and later served as its 72nd president.
He remembers his colleagues at Tennessee Tech as one of his favorite aspects of his
career at the university. He says it was the music department’s comradery that enabled
them to make some great things happen for their students.
“People in far flung areas always regarded that program as something very special,
and they wanted their students to come to Tech,” Hermann said. “And as a result, we
had some unbelievable things that took place at Tennessee Tech that normally only
happen at the state's flagship schools. Or in some cases, even in those flagship schools,
they're not able to do what we did.”
They were able to play in major state and national conventions, such as the American
Bandmasters Association Convention in Florida and the Music Educators National Conference
in Kansas.
“That kind of honor is what I think really positioned the program at Tennessee Tech
to receive the respect that it deserved, because people heard us in different locations
at national levels, and they realized that we’re not a little, junior college,” Hermann
said. “We’re the real deal.”
