Garwood Whaley, as a publisher of percussion performance music and method books, founded Meredith Music Publications in 1979. As a graduate of Juilliard, and as an active percussion instructor while a member of The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Whaley realized the lack of musically demanding and comprehensive teaching materials and set out to fill this void. From its inception, the imprint was distributed by Plymouth Music, Inc. owned by Bernie Fisher.
Doctoral studies in music education and full-time teaching at the high school level brought Whaley the realization that serious teaching texts dealing with often-neglected topics including score study, comprehensive musicianship and ensemble rhythm training were missing from the literature.
With several new titles in this category including Guide to Score Study by Frank Battisti and Robert Garofalo, Note Grouping by James Thurmond, The Art of Elementary Band Directing by Eileen Fraedrich, and Ed Lisk’s Creative Director series the company began receiving national attention as a serious contender in the music education book trade. The company now had two major focus areas: percussion pedagogical materials and music education/performance reference books.
In 2000, the Hal Leonard Corporation became the company’s exclusive distributor of worldwide sales as part of its strategy to expand their growing area of music book-trade publishing. Since that time, Meredith Music has grown in both size and stature bringing with it international acclaim. The imprint found new praise with its series A Composer’s Insight: Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band in five volumes, Peter Boonshaft’s three-volume set beginning with Teaching Music with Passion, an autobiography by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Colgrass and its multi-volume Cookbook series for strings, voice, percussion and wind instruments. Adding titles by the most respected names in music education and performance including Warren Benson, Keith Brion, Anthony Cirone, Frederick Fennell, Sandy Goldie, Shelley Jagow, David Kish, Gary Stith and Sally Wagner helped to elevate the company as a leader in its industry.
In July 2020, Meredith Music was acquired by GIA Publications, Inc. and became a division of this highly regarded publishing enterprise. In announcing the acquisition, Alec Harris, president of GIA Publications, stated, “We have long admired the Meredith Music catalog and believe it is an amazing compliment to the resources in GIA’s music education division. As consultant to GIA, Whaley continues to serve as president of Meredith and develops new publications that serve music education and music performance.
Today, having won numerous Paul Revere Awards from the Music Publishers Association and the Best Music Education Book award of 2018 from School Band and Orchestra Magazine, the imprint represents hundreds of authors and composers. From inception, the company was created on the premise that performance and music education are inextricably linked. On that basis, publications are written to be both instructive and musically rewarding. The publication of all materials is guided by three important principles and must be: •artistic and educationally creative, •intelligently and attractively presented, and •reasonably priced. These principles govern the selection and presentation of all music and texts chosen for publication. The highest degree of artistic excellence and quality remain fundamental to Meredith Music Publications as the company continues to expand to meet the needs of students, educators and performers.