THE MARCHING BAND

After World War II, the marching band movement came into prominence. It was not anything like it is today, but the small town school band had some form of a marching band. This was good “public relations” for the school district. The extent of the participation was usually the Memorial Day and 4th of July parades, the high school Homecoming parade, and the Halloween parade, if the community had one. A color guard was used, flag corps were not heard of as twirlers and a drum major was “the thing!”

The directors always dreaded a damp day, let alone a rainy one for the parade, especially for their drum sections. The field drums were 12” x 14”, made of wooden shells and the heads, batter and snare, were made of calfskin. (Plastic heads had not been invented yet.) If the calfskin got damp or wet, they would tighten up and split. It was common for 3 or 4 marching drums to lose their batter heads during a parade. What a headache for the director! The one and only solution for this major problem was for each drummer to carry a drum key, and as they marched along and could hear and feel the head tightening, they would have to loosen all of the lug nuts, little by little. Meanwhile, keep the beat, and keep in line. Hooray when the plastic heads came along!

There were a few out of town festivals in which a grade school marching band could participate. Any trip over 50 miles in those days was really an excursion. There were no theme parks to go to as we have today, except Riverview Park in Chicago, where bands would march and enjoy the rides. (This park was torn down quite a few years ago.) The festivals for marching bands were the “Pancake Festival” in Villa Grove, Illinois; the “Sauerkraut Festival” in Forreston, Illinois; the “Blossomtime Festival” in Benton Harbor, Michigan; and the “Tulip Festival” in Holland, Michigan. When you would tell your band members you were going to participate in one of these festivals, their faces would light up and would they practice hard for the trip! What an added incentive!

The Illinois Grade School Band Association has never sponsored marching band contests, although in the mid 40’s, we had baton twirling as a solo event. In order to qualify for the contest, the twirler had to be listed on the band entry card and pay the regular entry fee.