TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – William P. Foster, credited with innovating a much-imitated high-stepping style as founder and longtime director of the Florida A&M Marching 100 band, died Saturday. He was 91.
Foster died in Tallahassee, university officials said. They did not release a cause of death.
Foster served as the marching band’s director from 1946 until his retirement in 1998. He created more than 200 halftime pageants for the band at the historically black university.
He is credited with innovating marching band techniques, including a high-stepping style imitated by high school and college bands nationwide.
“He revolutionized marching band techniques in America,” said Julian E. White, a former student of Foster’s and the school’s current band director and music department chairman. “The most exciting response you can get from an audience is their reaction to well choreographed dance routine steps. That’s the kind of thing that Dr. Foster introduced.”