Thomas Beversdorf Memorial Scholarship
(est. 1999) Beversdorf was born in Yoakum, Texas on August 8, 1924. He began studying piano at age six, and at seven baritone horn with his father, a band director in Yoakum. He started playing trombone in high school, also under the guidance of his father. Beversdorf graduated high school when he was sixteen. Between age 6 and 16 he also studied horn, saxophone, cello, and clarinet.
In 1941, Beversdorf went to Baylor University on a full scholarship. In 1942, he transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied composition with Kent Kennan, Eric DeLemarter, and Anthony Donato. He finished his BM degree (cum laude) in Theory and Composition in August 1945.
Beversdorf went to the Eastman School of Music that fall, studying composition with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson, and trombone with Emory Remington. He received his MM in theory and composition in Spring 1946.
In the summer of 1947, Beversdorf studied composition with Aaron Copland and Arthur Honegger at Tanglewood, and privately with Anis Fuleihan.
Beversdorf played trombone with the Rochester Philharmonic from 1945 to 1946, the Houston Symphony from 1946 to 1948, and bass trombone in the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1948 to 1949. He was an instructor at the University of Houston from 1946 to 1948. In 1951, he joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a professor of composition, and continued in that capacity until 1977. In 1977, he lectured at the University of Guadalajara.
The Thomas Beversdorf Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to a worthy student studying at the Jacobs School of Music.