1949 – 1959

At the fall meeting held at Presser Hall in 1949, the officers elected were President, P. M. Keast, Elmhurst; Vice- President, Cloyd Myers, Sterling; and W. C. Edwards, Glen Ellyn-Lombard was appointed Secretary-Treasurer. The growth of the band movement in the state was phenomenal. Every little nook, crook, and crossroad was sprouting up with an instrumental program. The state contest was getting just far too large for one single state association to be run efficiently. The historical decision coming from this meeting was the splitting of the Illinois Grade School Band Association into the North State and South State divisions. The new name for our association was the North State Division of the Illinois Grade School Band Association. Once again P. M. Keast would lead the association through another period of transition. The North State Division was divided into five districts, and in later years, the area eventually grew to eight districts.

The contest year of 1950 was a very special year and a memorable one for the Glen Ellyn Grade School Band program. The department had grown to four bands with each band having 100 musicians. Since the first band was entering contests, the school administration and W.C. Edwards were concerned about the large second band being inactive with no incentive. The band was entered for one year in Class F, which was a non- competing class with no rating except for comments only by the judges. The association had put the Class F into the district contest level only for the purpose of encouraging new band programs to enter the contest, but they were allowed to enter for one year only. The first band for the past several years had been promised that if it would get a first superior rating from all three judges in the state contest, they would be pulled from competing in the organization contests, take them on tour each year, and let the second band compete in the contests in Class C or B. This plan would then solve the problems and have both bands active. In the 1950 contest, the Senior Band of Glen Ellyn received a first superior rating and a perfect score from all three judges. So the following year, the Senior Band was on tour, while the Junior Band competed in the contests every year until W. C. Edwards resigned from the directorship of the Glen Ellyn Instrumental Department in June of 1968.

At the fall meeting in 1950 one new officer was elected, President Floyd Wilson, Morris. Vice-President Cloyd Myers, Sterling was retained and a new Secretary-Treasurer was appointed by the President. He was William Johnston, Plainfield. With the dawning of a new regime in 1950-51, it was decided that the North State and South State titles given our association would be changed to the Northern Division of the Illinois Grade School Band Association. The South State was likewise renamed the Southern Division.

When P. M. Keast vacated the presidency in the fall of 1950, he became chairman of the North East District, which in a few years became known as District 5. Robert Jorgensen, Lewistown became District 2 chairman in 1952.

In the contest years of 1951, 1952, and 1953, in addition to holding the state contest at Illinois Wesleyan University and Bloomington High School, it was necessary to expand to include Capen Auditorium of Illinois State Normal University, now known as Illinois State University. The solo and ensemble contests were held in several of the buildings on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. On one rainy contest day, a room started to flood (the percussion room). It took quite some time to get another suitable room, equipment moved, and signs displayed to direct contestants to the new location

After three years at all three locations in the Bloomington area, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington High School, and Illinois State University, the state contest was moved to the Roosevelt Junior High School in Peoria to be held in the middle of the month of May, 1954, with all the solos, ensembles, and bands of the Northern Division of the Illinois Grade School Band Association performing in the state finals contest. Art Johnson, Chairman of the Music Department of Roosevelt Junior High School, had the full responsibility of managing and operating all the events. As he stated: “They set the contest up on Thursday after school and during the early hours of Friday morning, so all was in order by 8:00 a.m. that morning for the contest to start. Then all day Sunday was spent putting everything back in place so school could start on time Monday morning.” What a task! Art Johnson deserves a lot of gratitude and thanks from the members of the association, as there was no cost to our organization for the use of the buildings, etc. in Peoria; although the three sites in Bloomington did not charge us either. Most of the bands were housed in two hotels in Peoria, the Jefferson Hotel and the Pere Marquette.

For the 1954 solo contests, the solos were divided into three groups: Group 1, the more difficult; Group II, medium quality; and Group III, the easier selections. William Johnston, Secretary-Treasurer, was principally responsible for this new endeavor. A beginning soloist performed his or her first solo in Group III; if the performer got a rating of I in the state contest, the soloist had to move to Group II the next year. A group II soloist obtaining a first rating in the state solo contest would then have to move up to Group I the following year. A few years later the ruling was amended so a Group II soloist could compete in Group II for two years before moving to Group I no matter what his/her rating was in the state solo contest. The reason for this decision was that most directors felt that the jump from a Group II solo to a Group I solo within just one year was sometimes too great for the soloist. The solo contest entries were smaller than now, so this method was carefully monitored by the District Chairmen and supervised by the Secretary-Treasurer of the association to make sure a soloist receiving a first rating in the state contest for example in Group III did not perform in the same grouping the following year. If the entry card came through this way two years in a row, the director would be informed about the disqualification of the soloist, or the performer would have to choose a solo from a higher grouping.

In the early 50’s, Frank Laurie, North Chicago, became the first chairman of District 6 (which was to become District 8 at a later date.) Upon being elected Secretary-Treasurer of the association in 1957, Frank was succeeded as district chairman by Robert Soukup, Libertyville.

At the fall meeting of the association at Peoria in 1956, the same officers presided with the addition of W. C. Edwards, Glen Ellyn, as the new District 5 Chairman. Two important aspects of the contest were instituted. The First Superior rating used for organizations, solos, and ensembles since the middle 40’s was eliminated for the 1957 contests because many members felt that one band, one soloist, and one ensemble in each class was being singled out as the best, and this idea was not going over so well with most of the members. This was also the last year the contest would be held in Peoria for all groups. Why?

Once again the growth of the band programs in the Northern Division was so great, we outgrew the facilities in Peoria. The Executive Board on Saturday along with the membership at the annual meeting on Sunday voted to split the state contest site into several sites with certain classifications performing at one particular location. This still allowed for a nice state contest. All the Class A, B, and C groups would go to one site and the D and E groups to another site. Peoria was still used as a host for the larger organizations through 1958, with the other bands going by classification to the Canton site, Streator, Lewistown, etc.

In the summer of 1957, Floyd Wilson resigned his position in Morris to accept an orchestra position with   the Joliet Public Schools. At that time, orchestras were not accepted in the association contests; therefore Floyd Wilson resigned as President.

The fall meeting of the association was held at the Hotel Kaskaskia at LaSalle in 1957. Because of the central location of this town in the Northern Division, the site moved from Peoria to LaSalle. The Hotel Kaskaskia was not elegant. Literally, the light bulbs were hung from the ceilings by wires. There were no fixtures.

At this time, new officers were elected to serve for one year, and the Secretary-Treasurer was elected for the first time and not appointed by the President. The new officers were President, Cloyd Myers, Sterling; Vice-President, Robert Jorgensen, Lewistown; and Secretary-Treasurer, Frank Laurie, North Chicago.

In the fall of 1958, Robert Jorgensen resigned as Vice- President because he had accepted a vocal position in Urbana, and since vocal groups were not a part of the Illinois Grade School Band Association, he withdrew as an officer on the Executive Board. W. C. Edwards, Glen Ellyn, was elected the new Vice-President with the present officers of President and Secretary-Treasurer being retained. These three officers held their positions until the fall of 1972. The number of’medals used in the 1959 contests were 25,741.