_The Pioneer Leader of School Bands_
The High School principal, hurrying out to lunch stopped at the foot of
the stairs and listened in astonishment.
“Horns and drums,” he muttered, “I’ll have to see what is going on down
here!”
He followed the sounds easily and through the rear door of the manual
training room saw a group of boys, seated on nail kegs and boxes,
playing various instruments. A stocky young man was busily directing
them.
The principal smiled and quickly turned away. “Mac has certainly
started something this time!” he said to himself. But not until years
later did he realize that he had seen in its very beginning, Joliet’s
famous School Band under its leader, who became the Dean of the School
Band movement. This was the commencement of the greatest wave of music
ever to sweep the country.
A. R. McAllister was born on a farm near Joliet, Illinois. As a very
small boy he was fond of making music. Seldom was he seen without a
cornstalk fiddle or an elder flute.
To the dismay of his thrifty Scotch father, Archie sold his pet pig
for eight dollars and immediately sent a request to a mail order house
for a cornet costing that exact sum. However, the elder McAllister was
pleased that his son sent a C.O.D. order. Evidently he was going to be
sure to get the worth of his money.
The boy tooted away faithfully and was soon able to play tunes. His
next thought was to teach other boys in the neighborhood and organize a
band. The group made good progress and had fun besides, although some
of the neighbors declared “That McAllister boy does nothing but fool
around with music and will never amount to anything.” But the first
year of its existence this new band entered a contest and won the first
prize--a music rack. The second year they again won first prize--this
time a five-dollar bill.
Then Arch grew restless. He wondered which to follow--business or
music? He loved music but he wanted to make money quickly, so he took
a course in business school and got a job as auditor of the street car
company. That failed to satisfy him. He sold his cornet and went “out
west” to a fruit ranch in Montana. There he worked into a different
line, woodworking, building and making things with his hands. He felt
he had a real talent for this sort of work and soon went back to
Chicago to teach manual training in a Jewish training school.
A few years later McAllister accepted a position as Manual Training
teacher in the High School in Joliet, Illinois. Here he seized upon an
opportunity to get back into music work. He rounded up twelve boys who
liked music but knew nothing at all about it. They gathered up a dozen
used instruments, and McAllister began to teach and train the High
School Band, which at first was looked upon solely as an aid to the
football team. Their lessons were given outside of school hours and for
some time McAllister received no extra salary.
The boys worked faithfully, their membership increased and their
ability improved, but no one knew much about them. In 1920 the Joliet
Rotary Club took McAllister and his band to Atlantic City to their
convention. There they attracted much attention.
When the first national school band contest was held in Chicago,
twenty-five bands took part in the affair sponsored by the Music
Instrument Manufacturers. The Joliet, Illinois Township Band (Grade
School) directed by A. R. McAllister, easily won first prize.
The Joliet Band continued to win first place in contests in 1925, 26,
27, and 1928. Then they were barred from entering to give other bands a
chance. But when they re-entered they came out first in each contest.
The Joliet High School Band after having won many state and national
contests was finally given an honor no other organization will ever
have: the _first_ national school band trophy ever awarded in the world.
Bandmaster McAllister took his band on many pleasurable concert trips,
but the outstanding, unforgettable jaunt was a whole week’s engagement
playing in Radio City Music Hall in New York in March, 1936. The Joliet
Band also played at the Metropolitan Opera House, in Philadelphia and
in Washington, D. C. on the steps of the East front of Capitol Building
where they were cheered by Congressmen and Senators.
Many honors came to McAllister also. He was elected the first President
of the National School Band Association, organized in 1926, and
served for eight years. He was president of the American Bandmasters’
Association, and prominent in every organization connected with school
music.
A. R. McAllister died September 30, 1944, loved and honored by many
thousands of people, young and old. He was an extremely modest man, yet
he had one of the most brilliant careers in the history of instrumental
music education in America’s public schools.
McAllister was not a University man; he never graduated from a music
school, never had a doctor’s nor a master’s degree. Yet he created one
of the greatest high school bands in the world and was known and loved
by millions of young Americans.
[Illustration]
_As We Go Marching On_
And so they have all marched--the military bands, Sousa, Gilmore,
Pryor, Conway, the town and community bands, and the college and school
bands. They have marched right into the hearts of the people, young and
old, rich or poor, from Maine to California.
“All these bands have something in common,” wrote Dr. Edwin Franko
Goldman. “They are manifestations of a popular musical culture which
finds in them an expression of something not provided by any other type
of concert organization. Most important, they are a form of local, or
regional, or national organization fulfilling a genuine community need
and serving a genuine community interest....
“The band has introduced many people to music--both listeners and
performers. A band plays for the masses with mixed tastes. It is close
to the people, bringing many into firsthand contact with live music.”
Bands are able to perform in outdoor concerts, football games, parades
and on many varied occasions. They stand or march when they play,
inspiring action. Informal, outdoor band concerts will always remain
great popular attractions for few concert halls are large enough to
accommodate all the people who want to hear live band music. Besides,
outdoor band concerts are free.
The United States is today’s greatest musical nation, and bands
have played a great part in developing and spreading the love and
understanding of music among young and old in this country. A band is a
strong music educational force; a school or college band has the widest
opportunity in the world to personally convey music to the people.
With the extensive program of concerts, radio and recording
engagements, dances, football pageants, as well as the many regular
functions in which the college bandsmen take part, a wealth of
opportunity is given a college student interested in gaining experience
in music.
In a more limited way this is true with high school bands. School
bands are constantly being required to play at many public affairs
in their community and school. And with ability to play in the band
there comes to each bandsman a sense of citizenship, of belonging to
an organization which is considered necessary to the success of public
enterprises, of pride and importance in having a part in civic affairs.
People who are qualified to know state that the number of town,
municipal, and industrial bands is decreasing, but it is gratifying
to learn that these same authorities have found that college and
school bands are rapidly increasing in all parts of the country. These
organizations are recognized developments of our American culture. A
national survey reveals that in 1951 there were 75,000 bands in the
United States. And there were fully 9,000,000 high school boys and
girls belonging to school bands.
The activities of the high school bands are unified by the National
High School Band Association; the musicians composing the Music
Educators’ National Conference exercise helpful supervision. The
school band is recognized as one of the greatest agencies for teaching
democracy and good citizenship, as well as inducing a nation-wide love
for music.
“Music,” says the _Preface_ to the 1940 _Resolutions_ of the Music
Educators’ National Conference, “is an essential factor in building a
cultured and happy people. It belongs to everyone.”
The shrill, noisy brass bands of early days have been supplanted by
fine symphonic bands. Master instrument makers have invented a variety
of new band instruments capable of producing many novel and artistic
effects. Gifted musicians are composing and arranging music especially
suited to these various instruments. The band has proved its worth
and earned its right to the large place which it now occupies in our
American way of life. A band is a necessary part of every community.
And just as the whole future of America is dependent upon the young
people of today, in like manner, the fate of the bands of tomorrow
depends upon the musical education and training received by the boys
and girls of this present time. Youth must go marching on.
Throughout the ages man has found music to be essential in voicing his
own innate sense of beauty. Music is not a thing apart from man: it is
the spiritualized expression of his finest and best inner self.
There is no one wholly unresponsive to the elevating appeal of music.
If only the right contacts and experiences are provided, every life can
find in music some answer to its fundamental need for aesthetic and
emotional outlet.
The Music Educators’ National Conference, at its national meeting held
at Los Angeles in 1940, in full acceptance of its responsibilities as
the representative and champion of progressive thought and practice in
music education, pledged its united efforts in behalf of a broad and
constructive program for music education for the youth of America. The
organization recommended that the following measures be taken in the
direction of general improvement:
1. Provision in all the schools of our country, both urban and rural,
for music experience and training for every child, in accordance with
his interests and capacities.
2. Continued effort to improve music teaching, and to provide
adequate equipment.
3. Carry-over of school music training into the musical, social
and home life of the community, as a vital part of its cultural,
recreational and leisure-time activities.