W. Otto Miessner

W. Otto Miessner (b. Huntinburg, May 26, 1880 - d. May 27, 1967) -- Educator, conductor, composer, pianist, and vocalist. Miessner graduated from Huntingburg High School in 1898 and went on to receive a diploma from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he studied music theory, piano, and voice. Back in Indiana, he taught music in Booneville, Indiana (1900-04) and Connersville (1905-09). It was in Connersville, where he established the first country's first high school band, which played at the Northern and Southern Indiana Teacher’s Association in 1908. From 1914 to 1922, he was the director of the music school at Milwaukee State Teachers' College and founded his own music institute in Milwaukee in 1924. In the same city, he ran his own piano company with the intent of selling affordable instruments to schools. He later became the director of music education at the University of Kansas from 1936 to 1945. For forty years, he edited music textbooks for Silver Burdett along with fellow Hoosier Edward Birge and composer Horatio Parker. He was also president of the Music Educators National Conference from 1923 to 1924. Miessner also published several pedagogical books and composed choral works, art songs, and piano pieces.