My paternal great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs, was an accomplished musician and band director who lived during the golden age of bands. Born in Wapello, Iowa, G. Oliver studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and taught at the Iowa Wesleyan University Conservatory of Music in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. His various jobs as a soloist and band organizer took him as far west as Tacoma, Washington, but he spent more than half of his life in Minnesota.
G. Oliver gained fame first as a cornet and violin soloist. He eventually gave up solo work and focused on directing boys’ bands, first in the Minnesota towns of Crookston and Bemidji, and then for two decades in St. Cloud. Known for their precision, discipline and sheer size, his bands performed in concerts, for community celebrations, in parades and at state fairs. Their repertoire included marches, popular tunes of the day and classical works.
Several of G. Oliver’s students went on to greater musical fame, including legendary trombonist Pullman “Tommy” Pederson, U.S. Army Band Assistant Director Chester Heinzel, and brothers Herbert and Leonard Jung, who both played in the U.S. Navy Band. Many boys band “graduates” became school band directors, and others continued to play with the St. Cloud Municipal Band as adults, forming the nucleus of that band for more than 50 years. The last Riggs band graduate retired from the Municipal Band in fall 2006.
A longtime friend of Maj. George Landers—the father of the Iowa band tax law—G. Oliver lobbied for passage of the Minnesota band tax law in 1927. The law still exists; it allows towns to levy a tax to support community bands, choirs and orchestras.
G. Oliver also influenced the development of the instrumental music program in Minnesota schools through his involvement with the Minnesota Bandmasters Association.
