The NOTES DA CAPO –
By John L. Puffenbarger, WVMEA Historian
Spring 2006An envelope of
newspaper clippings that I received recently from Kathryne
Williams led me to delve further into the history of the State Band Festival in
In an effort to
promote the growth of high school bands in the 1930s, Henry Shadwell, Carl McElfresh, J. Henry Francis, and Charles Gorby developed
the idea of holding band festivals in The West Virginia
Bandmasters Association divided the state into eight regions (which later grew
to ten). Festivals were held in each region prior to the state festival.
Classifications of bands were established in accordance with the size of the
student body. Bands were classified A, B, or C. (This was changed in the late
1960s to AAA, AA, and A.) The WVBA organized
a bandmaster's band each summer to play selections that were being considered
for use in festivals. One piece was selected as a "required" piece
that all bands attending the festival would perform in their classification.
Band directors were given the option of selecting a warm-up number,
usually a march, and they were to choose a "selected" number of their
choice. (Note: Sight-reading was included at a few regional festivals, but not
at the state festival.) Bands that wanted
to go to the state festival were eligible to do so, provided they had earned a
"superior" rating in the regional festival. The first Huntington
State Band Festival was held in 1936. In 1939, twenty-seven bands attended the
festival. Students were housed in private homes, although some bands made
arrangements to stay in hotels. All-Festival Bands
were organized in each classification. The method of selecting personnel was
interesting. Prior to the event, band directors held a meeting to make
selections. While sitting around a table, the festival chairman would announce,
"We need several good flute players. Who has one?" A director would
reply, "I have an outstanding player." The student's name would be
added to the list. One director remarked that each year a particularly forceful
and loud director was always able to get more students chosen than anyone else.
The AllFestival Band Concert was usually held on
Friday night of the two-day event. The All-Festival
parade was held on Saturday. The evening prior to the parade, a dinner was
held, during which parade positions were determined by a drawing. Among the
clippings mailed to me by Kathryne Williams were newspaper
articles about parades held during the 1940s. One picture shows the starting
point of the 1946 parade. The Hinton and WeIch High
School Bands were pictured on Thousands of
spectators lined both sides of the two- mile parade route, standing six to
eight deep. Third grade student Sandra Shaffer of The newspaper
picture showed the style of uniforms bands wore in 1946. All band directors wore
uniforms, some choosing all white uniforms, while others wore a conservative
black style. Some students wore white buck shoes and a military style belt
around the waist with a smaller belt over the shoulder. Other students wore
black shoes with white spats. It was a grueling
march from the downtown area to Fairfield Stadium, where several bands
demonstrated marching maneuvers. Thousands of spectators went to Fairfield
Stadium to watch the bands show their expertise in field maneuvering. Several
hundred people swarmed on the cinder track and borders of the turf to have a
better view of the spectacular display of color and talent. The dream the
founders of the festival had many years ago was realized. The festival was a
huge success. By the mid-1950s, the festival had grown to seventy-five bands.
After the number of bands exceeded fifty, the logistics and housing created an
insurmountable problem, making it extremely difficult for For more information about the Huntington State Band Festival, please
read the March 1990, September 1992, February 1997, and April/May 1997 Notes da Capo articles, which are posted on the WVMEA Web site.) |