Wednesday, April 8, 2009

No Girls Allowed



From the March 1942 monthly edition of Said and Done:

As one sits in the auditorium and listens to the band play, it seems almost unbelievable that when it was first formed it was considered bad taste to have a band play indoors.

Since the formation of our band 32 years ago, it has grown to have a vital part of some of our most impressive assemblies.

Mr .Robinson was hired as director of instrumental music in 1910. The instruments of the band he organized were valued at only $800. This is a small figure when we consider that the instruments today are valued at over $20,000.

In 1912 the band was made up of 17 players. Here again we have a great contrast with the 110 piece band of today.

The first band uniforms were purchased in 1921. They were gray in military style. In 1925 they replaced their gray military outfits with red and white uniforms. During the last depressions the band was unable to spend much money for such things as uniforms. However, by 1936 the band had accumulated enough money to purchase their present red and black uniforms.

Today girls are a great asset to our band; yet before 1937 they were not even allowed to join.

The band first participated in the May Festival in 1926.Today we all look forward to Thursday night during the May Festival. This is a band night, and we hear selections by our band and by the bands of all the neighboring towns.

For the past four years our band has gotten a highly superior rating at the Holland Tulip Festival. It was the first high school band in the country to broadcast on a regular schedule.

The intermission between the halves of the football game would be a very boring period if it wasn't for the band and their splendid maneuvers.

A welcome addition was made to the band this year with the arrival of Mr. Cochrane as assistant director to Mr. Stewart. We all hope that they'll both be back next year leading our band to more fame and glory.

2 comments:

  1. I'm not too sure about this....My Grandmother, Ruth Welch (Brown) was in the band at Muskegon and she graduated in 1936.

    I seem to remember seeing pictures of her playing that may or may not have a date on them. I'll have to check when I'm back home in Michigan this summer.

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  2. Looking forward to your findings, Jenna. Congratulations on the Masters and enjoy married life in England and beyond!

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