Illustrious Brother Werle is one of the most legendary and productive individuals in the history of military music.

*Reprinted from Cadenza (Alumni News, January/February 2002), The United States Air Force Band

Another honor in the illustrious musical career of Chief Master Sergeant (Ret.) Floyd E. Werle, the legendary former chief of The USAF Band's Composing and Arranging Section, was added on October 7th, 2001, when he received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Rocky Mountain College, which is located in Chief Werle's hometown of Billings, Montana.

The hooding ceremony took place on stage in the city's primary concert venue, the Alberta Bair Theater. The festivities immediately preceded a concert by the combined Rocky Mountain College and Billings Community Bands. Following the ceremony, the 105-piece ensemble presented a concert comprised of some of the published material from the pen of this exceptionally talented musician.

Highlighting the performance was a presentation of Werle's Concertino for Three Brass and Band, which featured David Reynolds (the College's director of bands) on trumpet, trombonist James Robertson, and tubist Dale Peterson. Also featured were two of Werle's most successful commercial arrangements, A Cohan Broadway Festival and Charlie Chaplain Band Portrait. The concert portion of the gala afternoon was concluded with one of the selections Floyd wrote while serving the U. S. Air Force, Glider Pilots' Reunion March.

However, the end of the concert did not bring to a close the festivities honoring Billings' best-known musical native. Several of Floyd's classmates from Billings High School took him to the Shrine Auditorium at the west end of town, where the Al Bedoo Shrine Temple Band was gathered on the stage to honor their illustrious alum-both Floyd and his father are former members of that ensemble. And what were the first notes they played? The Al Bedoo Temple March written in 1952 by none other than Floyd E. Werle! It had been over 40 years since Floyd had heard that early composition, and he was thrilled with both the performance and the honor it represented.

It was a day of highlights in the career of one of the most legendary and productive individuals in the history of military music. Born in Billings in 1929, he began the study of piano at age five, adding clarinet at age eight. As a youngster, he played in dance bands in the Billings area, always accompanied by a relative since he was "under age" according to the laws of the times.
He also was a member of several student dance and jazz combos, and performed with them regularly on radio in Billings. His very first composition, Buck Rake Boogie for solo piano, was written early in his high school days.

Following his graduation from Billings High School in 1947, Floyd enrolled in the band department at the University of Michigan, and it was there that his talents as an arranger came to the fore. As a sophomore, he created a medley for band titled M Rhapsody comprised of university school songs; this selection remains to this day in the active repertoire of the University of Michigan Band. In addition to works for the concert stage, he also created innumerable marching arrangements for the famed university marching band.

The Korean War interrupted his education, and in 1950, he auditioned for and was accepted into membership in the 695th Air Force Band at what is now Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana. At about that time, Col. George S. Howard heard the University of Michigan Band play a medley of songs from South Pacific and was so impressed with the scoring that he checked with the band's director, William D. Revelli, to find out who had created that most impressive medley. When informed by Revelli that the arranger was already in the Air Force, Howard returned to Washington and set the wheels in motion to bring this exceptional young talent to D.C., and, as they say, the rest is history.

Arriving in Washington in 1951, Floyd discovered not just a world-class symphonic band, but also a symphony orchestra and the Singing Sergeants. The latter ensembles were especially important during those years because of the weekly national Air Force radio broadcasts, in which they were the primary attraction. The brilliant young arranger quickly became a key contributor to those national broadcasts.

While Werle had written Red Lodge Creek Ramble-Opus 6 7/8, which the Billings High School Band premiered on May 6, 1947, he didn't begin composing in earnest until the very early 1960s when Wonder of Flight for large symphony orchestra with antiphonal brass and two tape playback systems, Venite, Exultemus for orchestra, and Concert Etude for band were written.
However, Werle's major output as a composer can be dated to 1963 when Colonel Arnald D. Gabriel became Commander & Conductor of The USAF Band and the doors to creativity were flung wide open. Until Floyd's retirement in 1982, he created over 50 new works, including four trumpet concerti for Doc Severinsen and two symphonies.

As to Werle's "interrupted" education, to his total and complete surprise, he was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan during a concert by The USAF Band and the Singing Sergeants in the University's Hill Auditorium on January 21, 1982. The first half of the concert concluded with Ill. Werle's 2nd Symphony, in which he played the organ part. To his surprise, the university director of bands, George Cavender, the president of the Alumni Society, Mary Teal, and the university's regent, Tom Roach, approached the center microphone. Cavender referred to Werle as "your typical student genius," and Teal honored him as an outstanding alumnus. Then, on behalf of the University, Roach conferred the Bachelor of Music degree with distinction that Floyd's enlistment during the Koran War had denied. But perhaps the greatest honor came later when the legendary director emeritus of university bands, Dr. Revelli, referred to Floyd Werle as "the most talented student musician I ever had-he was the best."

Following his retirement from the military in 1982, Werle continued to live in Springfield, Virginia. His primary musical activity is working as minister of music at Faith United Methodist Church in Rockville, Maryland, a position he has held since 1967. In November of 1999, he lost his wife of 39 years, Violet Rose Lowser Werle, following an unusually long battle with Alzheimer's disease.