Grainger as Educator: On the First Performance of The Immovable Do for Wind Band

Percy Grainger’s role as composer, conductor, soloist, lecturer and educator in remote American high schools and universities during the middle of the twentieth century significantly influenced the development of wind band music. Grainger’s The Immovable Do for wind band was composed between 1933 and 1939 and first performed in Ada, Oklahoma, during the 1940 East Central Music Festival. The work and its premiere reflect an emerging need for original wind band music of high quality that was marketable to the broad demands of educational settings.