Gaylord Yost

Dr. Gaylord Yost (28 January 1888 – 10 October 1958) was a violinist, composer, and teacher. He is best known today for his collections of method books for the violin.

Biography Gaylord Purcell Yost was born on January 28, 1888, in Fayette, Ohio. He was the only child of Charles E. Yost, the proprietor and a journalist of The Fayette Review (the only newspaper in the village at the time) and Ada Purcell, daughter of Lott. A Purcell, a well-known figure in Fayette. He started playing violin in elementary school, and by age 12, he began composing violin and piano duets. By age 15, he was the leading violin teacher in the area. In 1903, he went to further his studies at the Toledo Conservatory. He remained there through 1904, then in 1905 went to the Detroit Conservatory, where he remained until 1906. After leaving Detroit, he went to Berlin to study with renowned Russian virtuoso Issay Barmas. He moved to Indianapolis around 1907 and between 1907 and 1911 he toured as a concert artist across the United States, Europe, and South America.

He began teaching at the collegiate level in 1911, as head of the violin department of the Indiana Conservatory of Music. He started teaching at Indiana University as head of the violin department in 1915, and also taught at the Indiana College of Music and Fine Arts around this time. In 1919, he moved to Pittsburgh and shortly thereafter became head of the violin department at Pittsburgh Musical Institute, a position he held for 25 years.

In 1909, he married Ella Caroline Schroeder, another violinist from Detroit. Later, in 1917, he remarried to Ruth Margaret Stuernagel, with whom he had two children: Gaylord C. Yost and Sondra Yost Matter.

In 1936, he earned the Doctorate of Music degree from Waynesburg College as well as an honorary membership in the Institut Litteraire et Artistique de France. One of his pieces, "Ecolouge", won the Institut Litteraire et Artistique de France's first prize in 1939. Many of his method books are considered indispensable in violin technique.