Chapter 8
When America Fell in Love with Bands

The first National High School Band Contest did something much larger than crown a champion.

It challenged every school in America to ask a simple question.

"How good can our band become?"

Almost overnight, directors began raising their expectations.

Students practiced harder.

Communities took greater pride in their school bands.

Music publishers wrote new music.

Instrument manufacturers designed better instruments.

Every contest pushed another band to become just a little better than the year before.

The pursuit of excellence had begun.

But another revolution was quietly unfolding at exactly the same time.

It wasn't happening on football fields.

It wasn't happening in school band rooms.

It was happening inside America's living rooms.

In the early 1920s, a remarkable invention began appearing in homes across the country.

The radio.

For the first time in history, families could gather around a wooden cabinet in the corner of their living room and hear some of the finest musicians in America without ever leaving home.

Before radio, if you wanted to hear a great band, you had to travel to a theater, concert hall, or city park.

Now...

The music came to you.

Night after night, Americans listened to military bands, concert bands, dance orchestras, jazz ensembles, and some of the greatest musicians the nation had ever produced.

Children who had never seen a trumpet suddenly wanted to play one.

Teenagers fell in love with the sound of the saxophone.

Families gathered together to listen to evening broadcasts that brought music into their homes with a clarity they had never experienced before.

The radio did far more than entertain America.

It inspired America to become musicians.

As radio ownership spread across the country, another musical revolution was taking place.

Dance halls were filling.

Ballrooms were crowded every weekend.

America had fallen in love with the sound of the Big Band.

Names like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington became household names.

Young people didn't simply listen to these bands.

They dreamed of becoming part of one.

Suddenly, playing an instrument wasn't just something students did in school.

It became exciting.

It became fashionable.

It became part of American culture.

School band rooms began filling with students eager to learn the music they had heard on the radio the night before.

Music stores sold record numbers of instruments.

Communities proudly supported their local school bands.

Marching bands became larger.

Concert bands became stronger.

The quality of music education improved dramatically.

It seemed as though nothing could slow the incredible growth of bands across America.

Then...

Everything changed.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor.

Within days, America entered World War II.

Almost overnight, thousands of musicians exchanged uniforms.

Not marching band uniforms.

Military uniforms.

High school graduates.

College musicians.

Community band members.

Professional performers.

One by one, they left home to serve their country.

Many community bands suddenly found themselves without enough musicians to continue rehearsing.

For a brief moment...

It appeared that America's great band tradition might begin to fade.

But something remarkable happened.

The music refused to die.

Across the country, women stepped forward.

Many civic bands had traditionally been made up almost entirely of men.

That had simply been the custom for generations.

Now, with fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons serving overseas, women picked up instruments and filled the empty chairs.

They rehearsed.

They performed.

They marched in parades.

They played patriotic concerts.

They kept the music alive.

Without realizing it, they were changing the future of music education forever.

For decades, many school bands had reflected the traditions of military and civic bands, where participation was often limited primarily to boys.

World War II challenged those traditions.

Women proved they could perform with the same musicianship, discipline, and dedication as anyone else.

When the war finally ended and America's servicemen returned home, they returned to a country that had changed.

The band world had changed too.

Schools increasingly welcomed girls into every section of the band.

Trumpets.

Trombones.

Percussion.

Tubas.

Leadership positions.

Eventually...

Drum majors.

Conductors.

Music education had entered a new era.

Today, when you look across a marching band, you'll see young men and young women performing side by side.

It feels completely natural.

But it wasn't always that way.

That opportunity was earned by a generation who refused to let the music stop.

Then came another extraordinary moment in American history.

The war was over.

The economy boomed.

Families moved into new neighborhoods.

New schools were built at an astonishing pace.

Thousands of returning veterans became teachers.

Band directors.

Music educators.

Communities invested in music programs like never before.

America wasn't simply rebuilding.

It was growing.

And wherever a new school opened...

A band room usually wasn't far behind.

By the 1950s and 1960s, school bands had become one of the defining experiences of American education.

Millions of students were learning instruments.

Friday night football games featured larger and more polished marching bands.

Communities packed stadiums not only to watch the game...

But to watch halftime.

As bands became larger...

Better trained...

And more creative...

The question first asked in 1923 became more important than ever.

How do you recognize excellence?

The answer would shape every marching band rehearsal that followed.