1969 – 1979

The annual general meeting in 1969 was held on Monday at the Holiday Inn in LaSalle with the Executive Board being assembled the day before. The same three officers who served the entire 3rd decade were still in office: President, Cloyd Myers, Sterling; Vice-President, W. C. Edwards, Park Ridge; and Secretary-Treasurer, Frank Laurie, North Chicago. The advisors were John E. Albright, Salt Creek of Villa Park; and James Perelli, Farmington. The new chairman of the restructured District 4 was Harold Luhman, Loves Park. It was voted to upgrade the plaques for the organizations at the state contest for Division I ratings, and Division II and III ratings would receive a large and more elaborate certificate. (Of course the plaque and certificate had to be redesigned and made quite a bit larger. This duty fell into the hands of the Vice- President.)

Vocal solos and ensembles would be allowed to enter in the contest in the spring of 1970. The solo list, prepared by the committee for vocalists, would be used as a suggested list for the 1970 contests and a required vocal solo list would be prepared for them for the 1971 contests.

The ruling that multipercussion soloists will not be required to perform rudiments, as do the snare drum soloists, was adopted by the membership. It was also passed that a soloist will be allowed to perform in Group 2 for two years. A committee was appointed to work on a new revised required solo list for all woodwind, brass, percussion, and string solos.

The 1970 Executive Board meeting was held in the fall on a Sunday at 1:15 p.m. with the general meeting on Monday at 10:00 a.m. The new advisors were introduced: Charles Ursitti, Laraway School, Joliet, and the vocal advisor was Joan King, Wheeling. The new District 4 Chairman was Jerry Hawthorne, Rockton. The newly designed plaque and certificate for the state contests were designed by the Vice-President and were presented and approved for the 1971 state contests. It was voted that the Annual Membership and Executive Board meetings be held prior to October 1 in 1971.

This was the first year that a Parliamentarian was appointed at the meetings by the President. District 1 Chairman, Don Langellier, Quincy, acted in this capacity for many years. The required vocal solo list was presented by Rowland Pitts, Chairman of this committee, and it was approved to take effect at next season’s contests. Because of the growth of the association, more state sites were required. It was decided to make assignments for organizations of all classes to all sites. This really broke up the true spirit of a contest, as like classification schools might be divided up among 5 or 6 state sites instead of performing at one site, again this was progress! It was passed that proxy votes at the annual state meeting would not be allowed. Two instrument repair workshops were held in October and November of 1970, and were well received.

The state Executive Board meeting was held in 1971 in September at 1:00 p.m. with the general meeting the next day at 10:00 a.m. The Holiday Inn at LaSalle was still our headquarters. Arthur F. Smejkal was introduced as the new advisor and District 7 had a new chairman, Rowland F. Pitts, Gower School, Hinsdale. Stage Bands were voted into the contests for 1972 at the District level only, and they were to be organized by the districts. Because of the rising cost of the awards, schools would now be asked to pay for their tapes as part of their entry fees at the State Organization Contest in 1972. To clarify the qualifications for piano soloists, “The piano soloist must be a member of a school-sponsored piano program, or a member of the instrumental or vocal department, or must play two piano accompaniments in order to qualify for the piano solo and ensemble contest.” District 8 was allowed to run a pilot program at their solo contest in 1972 with solos not memorized. W. C. Edwards was named to set up a new standard judge’s contract. In the 1971 Northern Division’s State Final Contest, 97 bands, 49 choruses, and 15 orchestras participated for a total of 161 participating organizations.

In the fall of 1972 the board and general meetings were held on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and Monday at 10:00 a.m. as usual. The reports at the meeting on the success of the District Stage Band Contest were very favorable and positive. Since the majority of the stage bands were from District 7 and only a few were from District 8, the site for the District Stage Band Contest on June 3, 1972 was located in District 7 at the Glen Crest Junior High School, Glen Ellyn, supervised by co-hosts Lyn Sanny and Rowland P. Pitts. Because of the success of this contest, stage bands would be allowed to compete in the District and State levels in the spring of 1973.

More progress for the association along with growth and foresight! Separate classifications for intermediate or second organizations in the district level contest only were set up and entered in Class A2, B2, C2, etc. depending upon the enrollment. The pilot program in District 8 of no memorization for solos was well received so the association voted, starting in 1973 solo contests, that memorization would not be required. Nobody could ever accuse the Illinois Grade School Music Association of being stagnant and afraid of progress. Districts 1 and 7 were given permission to give an extra star for memorization of a solo in their contests due to the efforts of Don Langellier, District 1 Chairman and Rowland Pitts, District 7 Chairman. This procedure in District 1 and 7 is still being used. Frank Laurie resigned as Secretary-Treasurer and was given a life membership in the Illinois Grade School Music Association with full voting privileges. Barbara Buehlman, Round Lake, was elected the new Secretary-Treasurer. This was the first change in the officers in quite a few years. Replacing Barbara Buehlman as Chairman of District 8 was William Clark of North Chicago.

The 1973 Executive Board meeting was scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. with the general meeting scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Monday. New members on the board were: Advisor, Wilbur Simpson, Lansing; Chairman District 2, Gene Button, North Pekin; Chairman District 3, William Handley, Danville; and Chairman District 4, Loran McKelvey, Rockton. A report was given on the first State Stage Band Contest held on May 12, 1973, at the Carl Sandburg Junior High School in Rolling Meadows under the chairmanship of George Yingst, Rolling Meadows. Eight stage bands participated, and there was one no show. It was then voted to have a committee, chaired by the President, establish the State Stage Band Contest rules to be implemented into the 1974 Stage Band State Contest. The old rule that a soloist and ensemble member will be eligible for competition only if the organization of which they are a member competes in a district or state contest at least every other contest year was deleted from the constitution. This original ruling was established in the first decade.

In 1974 the board meeting was still held on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and with all the directors on Monday at 10:00 a.m. in LaSalle. The two new district chairmen on the Executive Board were District 3, Robert E. Jorgensen, Urbana; and District 4, Dennis Windler, Woodstock.

The printing costs were rising, so it was decided to print the required solo list every three years. Additions to the printed solo book would be compiled in a mimeographed printed list and would be distributed to the members during the years that the book was not printed. It was always the duty of the President to keep the solo required list up to date. The method of drop shipping the medals to all district and state sites directly from the medal company was established, and this would cut down on the inventory in the basement of the Vice- President’s home. Judges’ salaries were raised to $50 and traveling costs to 15 cents a mile.

The year 1975 found the Executive Board meeting held on the same days, same time, and same place as in the past years. There was only one new member to the Executive Board: Advisor Frank Laurie of the Illinois Office of Education, Springfield. Each District Chairman shall submit the names of organization adjudicators to the Secretary-Treasurer for the purpose of establishing an approved Organizations Adjudicators List. It would be the duty of the Secretary-Treasurer to keep the list up-to-date. A Dynamics category was added to the solo contest adjudication sheet to replace Memory for the next contest season. General Interpretation and Musicianship shall be changed to read Interpretation and Style. The point system of 7-10 First, 11-15 Second, and 16-28 Third was once again restored. (We dropped memory and scored a First 6-9 etc. in 1973.) All districts shall have permission at their own expenses to recognize a perfect score and give a I plus rating. Very few do. In fact, only District 8 honors perfect scores with an added star.

The year 1976 saw a special spring Executive Board meeting held to set forth a proposed required band music list for classification purposes. The director would choose his organization’s classification from the list. The committee in charge of the proposal was Jerry Hawthorne, Rockton, George Yingst, Rolling Meadows, and Barbara Buehlman, Round Lake. The same was established for orchestras and choruses. The fall meeting was held in September with two new District Chairmen on the Board: District 4, Shirley Angell, Stillman Valley; and District 8, George Yingst, Rolling Meadows. The first proposal coming forth was the reclassification of organizations as set up in the spring.  District 8 was given permission to use this system in their district contest for one year. A committee headed by John Weaver, Sycamore, was established to revise the piano comment sheet.

Adjudicators for the state organization Contest shall be hired and assigned by the President to the various state contest sites. Two adjudicator’s workshops were set up for later in the year.  A director will not be allowed in a contest room while students from his or her school are performing except to direct a choir or accompany a solo or ensemble. In past years, a director was not allowed in the contest room at all while his or her students performed. The proposal to let solos be accompanied by a recording tape was defeated! Two sites for the State Stage Band Contest would have to be set up for next spring’s contest due to the growth in this area. Barbara Buehlman proposed that we start the Executive Board meeting on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. instead of 1:00 p.m., as we would probably finish by 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. instead of the early morning hours of Monday. Her reasoning was that after the board meeting, the Secretary- Treasurer had a lot of preparation for the general meeting on Monday with the proposals, resolutions, agenda, etc. to be typed up and run off for the membership. What a fine suggestion! The Secretary-Treasurer would at least get some sleep before the meeting. This suggestion was adopted, and the new time schedule still exists today.

In 1977 the new time schedule was begun at the Holiday Inn in LaSalle. The Sunday Executive Board meeting started at 10:00 a.m. and lasted until 4:00 p.m. On Monday, the general meeting was from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Since the administrators were constantly changing, the President was given the authority to appoint one person to act in an advisory capacity without voting privileges. He appointed John O’Connor of the University of Illinois.  Each member shall receive one copy of  the new revised solo book. Additional copies of the book will be $1.00 each. The President, in consultation with the state contest site chairman, should hire and assign the judges to the state organization contests. Drum set solos were added to the contest for 1978.

The fall meetings in 1978 were on the new schedule, which worked out well. The only new board member was Nannette Stroebel, Forreston, Chairman of District 4. To cut costs, it was voted to eliminate duplicate mailings to administrators with the exception of the first mailing on the subject of membership. Swing Choirs shall be an official contest entry categorized as an organization starting in the spring of 1979. The organization was continuing to grow. The Wisconsin School Music Association’s rudiments for drum set solos were incorporated into our contest, and a newly prepared list of graded solos for drum sets was also accepted. Frank Laurie led a big discussion concerning the new state’s “Title I” and, because of this legal document, the chairman of each district was now called chairperson and would appear on all stationery. So ends another exciting decade!

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