The Begian Brothers
Jim, Mike, and Harry
On the last day of last year, Jim Begian passed away. He was the father of our close friends Bob and Patti (Begian) Schlagheck. Jim was 97 years old. Over the years, at Schlagheck family gatherings and for a few years at Armenian Week in the Poconos, we got to know Jim and his wife Sally. They were wonderful and very kind people. It was our pleasure to know them both. Sally and Jim were married for 59 years. She passed away in 2008.
The Schlaghecks were neighbors of ours when we lived in Bloomfield Township in Michigan in the 1980s. Patty and Judy met at the neighborhood beach on Walnut Lake. Patti heard Judy chasing after Aram in Armenian and introduced herself and her son Robert who was Aram’s age. The boys grew up as good friends and stood-up in each other’s weddings.
Jim was born in 1923 to Neshan and Osge Begian. He grew up in Dearborn in a house that his father built. He was one of three brothers. Graduating from High School just as the US entered World War II, it is not surprising that he served and was a proud veteran. He was a true son of Detroit and Dearborn in that he worked at Ford Motor Company for over 50 years.
I wish I could have spent a bit more time talking with Jim. I would have liked to have learned more about this service in World War II and his work at Ford Motor. I would have liked to have learned a bit about his parents and their story from Sepastia to the United States.
The same day that Jim passed away, before I learned that he passed, I was reading about his brother Dr. Harry Begian (1921 – 2010), a renowned maestro and band director. I might have written about either of the brothers had I only learned about Jim’s passing or come across the mention of Harry in the book I was reading about Detroit. That the latter happened on the day Jim passed, compelled me to write about both.
The book I am reading is Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss. Maraniss covers the major happenings in the city in the year 1963, a year he considers pivotal, when Detroit reached its heights in terms of population and economic ascension. It also marked the start of the decline that resulted in the city declaring filing for bankruptcy in 2013.
In a chapter on rise of Barry Gordy’s Motown, Marraniss. He was writing about Paul Riser, trombone player and arranger.
Then at Cass Tech, Riser rose under the guidance of Dr. Harry Begian, who inculcated in his students the classics and fundamentals, "He was like a military drill sergeant, but he did it from his heart. I didn’t understand what he was doing until I graduated years later and got a degree. I was able to laugh about it, his discipline. Harry Begian treated us as ladies and gentlemen and got us ready for the marketplace, attitude-wise, discipline-wise. I sat first chair trombone at Cass Tech, and he saw something in me… That got me ready for Motown."
Harry got his bachelors and masters from Wayne State University and earned his PhD from the University of Michigan. He was director of bands at Detroit’s premier high school, Cass Tech, from 1947 – 1964. He then went on to similar positions at Wayne State, Michigan State University, and the University of Illinois. He had been guest conductor and provided clinics and workshops throughout the US, Canada, and Australia.
There is a wonderful oral history
interview of Harry on NAMM.org:
The only music I heard in our home was my father singing old country tunes. By the way, those tunes are the tunes I gave to Alfred Reed to create the Armenian Dances. I didn’t like them when I was a kid. But, as I grew older, they meant more to me. And after hearing the folk music of other nations, I thought that what my father used to sing was pretty good. So, I had Alfred Reed, I commissioned him, to do the Armenian Dances which Alfred Reed always told me, sold more of his pieces than all his other things he had every written combined.
Here are recordings of the Armenian Dances Parts 1 and 2. Peace be to the souls of these brothers.
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| Dr. Harry Begian banddirector.com |
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