“THE SUPERIOR BAND”

In 1913 A. R. McAllister was a shop teacher in the Joliet Township High School. That year the Board of Education assigned him to the position of Band Director of the High School Band. We all know the history of the High School Band after A. R. McAllister assumed the reign. They won many national championships, and he was one of the founding fathers of the Illinois School Band Association and also one of its past presidents. This organization was the forerunner of our present association.

The Joliet Grade School Band was the superior and outstanding band in the first three decades of the Illinois Grade School Band Association. There were many fine and excellent grade school bands in the organization, but the Joliet Band was admired for excellence in performance by all the other directors. Therefore, a chapter should be devoted to the Joliet Grade School Band as they exemplified what all the other bands were striving for in their performances.

James Milton Thompson was founder and director of the band starting in 1912. Guido Mattei assumed the position in 1918. In 1926, Mattei was followed by Glen J. Ford and was succeeded in 1936 by Forrest L. McAllister, the son of the Joliet Township High School Band Director, A. R. McAllister. As you will notice from the first state contest program of the Illinois Grade School Band Association, Forrest L. McAllister was the band’s director.

On October 14, 1942, Charles S. Peters was appointed Director of the Joliet Grade School Bands and his tenure lasted until 1969. During Peters’ first three years as director, the Joliet Grade School Bands did not participate in band contests because of World War II.

After the war was over, Peters entered the Joliet Grade School Band in the district and state contests for the first time, receiving a “superior rating” in both. By the 1949-50 school year, the Joliet Grade School Bands had won a “superior rating” so often in the Illinois Grade School Band Association State Band Contest that the band was awarded an “honorary superior rating” and was asked to present a concert each year for all the contestants, directors, and music educators attending the state finals. This procedure went well into the second decade.

Click to find out more about the Joliet Grade School Band

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