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Performing Arts Library Special Collections in Performing Arts ABA Research Center 
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Ostwald Award Archives
Winner 1977: William H. Hill, Dances Sacred and Profane
Biography:
William H. Hill was born in 1930 in Paris, Texas. He received his B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in 1952. He then continued to study at Northern Colorado earning a B.M. degree in 1954 and a M.A. degree in 1955. While pursuing his studies, he was a member of the Greeley, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra and the 529th U.S. Air Force Band.In 1955, Hill became woodwind instructor and assistant director of bands at East Texas State University. He was later appointed director of bands. He left East Texas State in 1963 to pursue his doctoral degree at the University of California at Los Angeles. From 1966 to 1969, he taught saxophone and arranging techniques and conducted several bands at Arizona State University. Hill then went on to teach at California State University from 1972 to 1982. There he was chair of the instrumental music department.
Hill has performed, conducted, and directed clinics in the United States and in England, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Japan. He is the subject of a Ph.D. dissertation by Robert Morsch of the University of Iowa, entitled William H. Hill: A Man and His Music.
Hill has received many honors including the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Northern Colorado in 1980, ASCAP Serious Music Awards from 1982-1985 and the Phi Mu Alpha Alpheus Award in 1977. He holds memberships in the American Bandmasters Association, the College Band Directors National Association, the American Society of Music Arrangers, the American Federation of Musicians, Music Educator's National Conference, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Symphonia, Phi Delta Kappa, and Phi Beta Mu.
Source:
Rehrig, William H. The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991.
