Several controversial and heavily-debated topics remain on the table this session of the Iowa legislature, but there are lighter matters before the lawmakers as well. It’s not a state muffin or bird, but there are those who think Iowa’s cultural heritage owes a lot…to the trombone.
Two northern Iowa senators want to slide a resolution past their peers to make the trombone Iowa’s official state musical instrument. Thurman Gaskill of Corwith, a Republican, and Democrat Amanda Ragan, a Senator from Mason City, point out that nothing did more to make the state famous than Meredith Willson’s "Music Man," and of course Glenn Miller, a native of Clarinda, had plenty of trumpets and trombones in his renowned big band.
It’s the mainstay of every marching band, their resolution points out — the giant among jazz band instruments, and the two say it’s high time the trombone was Iowa’s official state instrument.