Conway, Patrick, 1867-1929

Along with Patrick S. Gilmore, John Philip Sousa, and Arthur Pryor, Patrick Conway stands as a major contributor to the history of bands in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Patrick ("Patsy") Conway was born on July 4, 1867 near Troy, New York. He received his early formal education at the Homer Academy. Following the death of his father, when Conway was fifteen, he went to work at a carriage factory. It was there that he was taught to play the cornet by a fellow worker, who was also director of the Homer Band. Conway joined the band and within a few years became its director. He continued his formal music education at Ithaca Conservatory and Cornell University.

In 1895 Conway moved to Ithaca to teach music at Cornell. He organized the Cornell Cadet Band and remained its director for thirteen years. During this period, Conway organized and directed the Ithaca Band, in addition to directing the Lyceum Theater orchestra. During the summer season the Ithaca Band, which changed its name to Patrick Conway and His Band around 1908, toured the mid-western and western United States performing at state fairs and expositions, including the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Conway's band also had regular summer engagements for over twenty years at Willow Grove Park, Philadelphia, and Young's Pier, Atlantic City.

In addition to its concert schedule, Patrick Conway and His Band recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company, and were featured on the "General Motors Family Hour" radio shows during the 1928-1929 seasons.

During the First World War, Conway was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army Air Service and organized the air corps' first band. Following the war, Conway returned to Ithaca and founded the Conway Military Band School as an affiliate of the Ithaca Conservatory of Music. He taught at the school from 1922 until his death.

Conway married the former Alice Randall in 1893. They had two children: Paul (1894-1920), who played in the Conway band and died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-six, and Katherine (b. 1896). Conway died on June 10, 1929, following an operation.

Patrick ("Patsy") Conway was a prominent band leader in the early 20th Century. While a music teacher at Cornell University, he organized and directed the Ithaca Band, which later became known as Patrick Conway and His Band around 1908. During the summer season Conway's band toured the mid-western and western United States performing at state fairs and expositions, including the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915, and had regular engagements at Willow Grove Park, Philadelphia, and Young's Pier, Atlantic City. After serving in the First World War, Conway returned to Ithaca and founded the Military Band School as an affiliate of the Ithaca Conservatory of Music. He taught at the school from 1922 until his death in 1929.