Del Staigers

Charles Delaware “Del” Staigers (b. Muncie, August 20, 1899—d. July 12, 1950, Hollywood) – Cornet/Trumpet player and pedagogue. Staigers was born and raised in Muncie and was given the middle name “Delaware” because his father was in the state of Delaware when he was born. Eventually, “Del,” as he was known, became one of the greatest cornet soloists in the American band scene. He developed great skill as a youngster, and he was billed as “Boy Wonder” when he played a solo at Winona Lake (Indiana Chautauqua) at age nine. All through his teen years, he played professionally in bands and in the Vaudeville circuit culminating with an appointment as assistant cornet soloist with Sousa’s band in 1918. He later played taps at Sousa’s funeral in 1934. After traveling the country for two years, he settled in New York as a highly respected theater and studio musician. From 1926 to 1942, he was a featured performer in the Victor Salon Orchestra for the Victor Talking Machine Company. Overlapping with the Victor job, he played as a star soloist with the famed Goldman Band from 1926 to 1934, and his recordings of his own arrangement of the Carnival of Venice with the Goldman band are considered classics. Shortly after reclaiming the solo chair with Goldman’s band in 1942, Staigers moved to Hollywood in the following summer. There, he finished his career as a studio musician for radio and film. As a pedagogue, he was widely known as a private teacher, clinician, and author of exercise books. In fact, his Flexibility Studies and Technical Drills (two volumes, Carl Fischer, 1950) is still a standard method book.