W. Otto Miessner

William Otto Miessner (May 26, 1880 - May 27, 1967) was an American composer and music educator. Most of his life was spent in the midwest, particularly Indiana and Wisconsin.

Born in Huntingburg, Indiana, Miessner was the son of Charles Miessner and Mary Miessner (née Reutepohler). He graduated from Huntingburg High School in 1898. He earned a diploma from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he studied music theory with A. J. Gantvoort, piano with Frederick Hoffman, and singing with Adolph Devin-Duvivier. He later pursued further studies in New York with Frederick Bristol (singing), A. J. Goodrich (harmony and counterpoint), and Edgar Stillman Kelley (composition). He also studied voice in Berlin, taking lessons in 1910 with Alexander Heinemann. He then taught music from 1900 until 1904 at a school in Boonville, Indiana, before going to Connersville to teach elementary and high school music; he stayed there from 1905 until 1909. Miessner has been quoted as saying that "The idle mind is the devil’s workshop. But this is my workshop and I’ll not tolerate an idle mind as long as there’s excitement in music."

One day in 1906, Miessner met three students in the street; they had been suspended from school earlier in the day due to misbehavior. The three were watching a minstrel show, keeping time with their hands while listening. Miessner made a deal with the three boys: he would get them reinstated in school if they, in exchange, would learn to play instruments in a school band which he was at the time planning to form. They agreed; Miessner, for his part, encouraged them to practice by promising them a public concert and uniforms in the school colors. The experiment was a success, and Connersville High School became possessed of the first public high school band in the United States. Miessner received a great deal of exposure for his work in starting the band, which was chosen to perform at a convention of the Northern and Southern Indiana Teacher’s Association in 1908. This performance received a notice in School Music, at the time a national publication for music educators, and Miessner's name was made.

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