John Patrick Noonan

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John Patrick Noonan (September 28, 1904 - January 18, 1984) was an American drummer, tympanist, percussionist, musical instrument retailer and music educator, son of Thomas E. and Birdie Murray Noonan. Noonan taught and performed actively for decades. He was a teacher of all age groups, and wrote/edited educational articles and brochures for The School Musician Director and Teacher, DownBeat, Metronome, The Instrumentalist and several percussion instrument manufacturers including the Ludwig Drum Company, Avedis Zildjian Cymbals, The C.G. Conn Corporation (when they manufactured Ludwig and Leedy Drums), Slingerland Drum Company, and the American Rawhide Company (AMRAWCO).

Education[edit]

John Noonan graduated from two Bloomington, Illinois, schools: Holy Trinity High School in 1922 and Illinois Wesleyan University's College of Law.^[1] in 1926 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.

He began playing the drums at age 14. His father, a trumpet player, led the family's mini-orchestra. "One sister played the fiddle, another the piano. We didn't have a drummer, so I became the drummer...I hit the thing once and I was hooked.At first he taught himself to play the drums but later found a teacher, Edward B. Straight, author of multiple snare drum method books, drum solos and duets. He also studied with Edward M. Metzinger, Timpanist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Roy Knapp, and Max Nickell, said to be "the world's greatest drummer" by Arturo Toscanini.

Awards and memberships[edit]

John Noonan was inducted into the inaugural class of the Percussive Arts Society's Hall of Fame in 1973^[2] with four other leaders in percussion performance, education, research and scholarship: Saul Goodman, Haskell Harr, Roy Knapp, and William F. Ludwig, Sr.

John Noonan was a member of Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity, an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Professional Music Fraternity, a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 102, and a long-standing member of the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (NARD).^[3]

Career[edit]

John Noonan said he "...performed everywhere, from saloons to symphony halls." He played drums for silent movies in theaters, in burlesque and vaudeville houses, and for a while (1930-1933) scouted for jobs in California, at one time playing in both the Berkeley Municipal Band and the San Francisco Civic Orchestra, the training orchestra for the San Francisco Symphony. Noonan performed under countless conductors throughout his career including Edwin Franko Goldman, William Revelli, Glenn Cliffe Bainum, and Harold Bachman.

In 1938, Noonan was present for Opening Day of Frank's Drum Shop in Chicago, owned by Frank Gault.^[4][5]

In that same year, one of Noonan's teachers, Roy Knapp, opened the Roy C. Knapp School of Percussion in Chicago. Noonan joined him in 1946 as a teacher, Vice President and Associate Director.^{[citation needed]} The school received accreditation that same year.^[6]

After World War II, Noonan worked for the Ludwig & Ludwig Drum Company in Chicago serving as its first Educational Director, traveling to high schools, universities and music schools throughout the United States giving clinics that demonstrated the latest in percussion instruments and their performance techniques. These were among the first total percussion clinics in the U.S. As his clinic brochure, Developing Your Percussion Section states, "The primary purpose of percussion clinics is to assist the conductors of bands and orchestras to a better understanding of their drum or percussion sections, through the review of analytical drum parts."^[7]

John Noonan continued his association with Ludwig, directly or indirectly, throughout the company's subsequent business name changes, from Ludwig & Ludwig to Leedy & Ludwig in 1950, and the Ludwig Drum Company in 1955. He's listed as a Ludwig Endorser from 1948 to 1955 in The Ludwig Book by Rob Cook, Page 32.^[8]

In June of 1941, Leopold Stowkowski, while in Chicago conducting the All-American Youth Orchestra in a performance at the Civic Opera House, called Noonan asking for some advice on drums and tympani which led to the creation of two special "outsized suspended tympani" sets by Ludwig.^[9]

In 1947, Noonan returned to central Illinois where he became Illinois Wesleyan University's first percussion teacher from 1945 to 1950 (IWU was his Alma Mater), and opened a full-line band instrument store called The Noonan Music Company; he also taught drums privately, coached local school percussion sections, performed with the Bloomington-Normal Symphony (originally the Bloomington-Normal Philharmonic Society, organized in 1920), the Bloomington Municipal Band and area dance bands. He coached both The American Legion Drum Corp and the State Farm Bagpipe and Drum Corp.

In 1961, Noonan sold his store to Tom and Bunny Wood^[10] while continuing to teach and sell drums and percussion instruments from his home basement studio and drum shop. When he retired in 1973, Jeff Neuhauser bought the remaining basement drum shop stock.

Publications[edit]

• DownBeat^[11][12]
• Metronome^[13], published in New York City from 1881 until 1961.
• The School Musician^[13]
• The School Drummer's Manual by John P. Noonan, Jow Berryman and Clark Hammitt, Ludwig & Ludwig, c. 1941^[14]
• The Instrumentalist^[15] John Noonan was editor and author of the Percussion Clinic column for The Instrumentalist from its first issue in September/October of 1946 through 1947 and contributed percussion articles intermittently thereafter until 1960^{[citation needed]}
• The Ludwig & Ludwig Drummer: "Slants on the Modern Drummer" by John P. Noonan^[16]
• John Noonan authored several percussion industry brochures: Notes on Band and Orchestra Cymbals for the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company^[17], North Quincy, MA, 1951; All About Drum Heads in collaboration with Howard Emery for The American Rawhide Mfg. Co. (AMRAWCO), Chicago, IL, c. 1950^[18]; and a Snare Drum Product Evaluation for the Slingerland Drum Company, 1983^[19]
• Drum Method by John P. Noonan, with an inscription, 'Written for Roy C. Knapp' (unpublished)
• The Perfect Concert Snare Drum by John P. Noonan (unpublished)

Civic duties[edit]

In 1935, Noonan was an assistant supervisor of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for the Fourth District in Illinois, interviewing amateur and professional musicians who wished to participate in the WPA's Jobs and Income for the Unemployed Program during the Great Depression.^[20]

In August of 1967 Noonan was appointed Manager of the Bloomington Illinois Municipal Band.^[21]

Personal life and death[edit]

Noonan married Ethel "Pi" Little of Oakland, California, in May, 1945. She preceded him in death on May 27, 1973. He died on January 18, 1984. He was 79 years old. He was buried at Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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