Birchler returns to CHS to direct 2010 Junior High Band Festival
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Chester Grade School hosted the 2010 Junior High Band Festival, and former Chester Band Director, John A. Birchler, returned to his old stomping grounds to take the helm once again.
John Birchler was a 1954 graduate of Chester High School and went to Southern Illinois University to obtain his Bachelor's Degree in Music. Until his final retirement "Mr. B" spent a whopping 44 years teaching in the field of music.
Birchler taught at Steeleville from 1957 till 1962 then returned to his home town to teach for the next 26 years. In 1988 he retired from the public school system and moved to Waterloo where he quickly accepted the band director position at Gibault where he then taught another 13 years before retiring for good.
Throughout most of his tenure in Chester and at Gibault Birchler was the summer band director of the Chester Municipal Band. He was also leader of the popular John Birchler Orchestra throughout most of the 60's and 70's.
It was a pleasure for Birchler to return to Chester to direct the 2010 Junior High Band at the Festival.
Nick Leist was the special guest director of the 6th Grade Band at the 2010 Junior High Band Festival. Leist lives in Jackson, Missouri where he taught music and band from 1968 until his retirement in 1998. He has tenure of 36 years as a teacher. Leist likewise has directed the Jackson Municipal Band for the past 40 years.
Leist received his Bachelor's Degree in Music from Southeast Missouri in 1962 and earned a Master's Degree in 1969 from that same university. Currently Leist works as a field representative at Shivelbine's Music Store in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The day began at 8:45 a.m. with warmups and seating assignments. The 6th Grade band rehearsed in the CHS band room while the Junior High band rehearsed in Colbert Gymnasium. The first rehearsals ran from 9:00 a.m. till 10:15 a.m.
Following the morning break both groups rehearsed again from 10:30 a.m. till 12:15 p.m. Lunch was from 12:15 p.m. till 1:00 p.m. Final rehearsals were from 1:00 p.m. until 1:40 p.m. when all grade school students returned to their home towns to eat supper and change clothes for the evening concert.
Participating schools included Chester Grade School with Sue Colonel, Director; Evansville Attendance center with Michelle Kadonsky, Director; Steeleville CUSD # 138 with Rebecca Swope, Director; Sparta Lincoln Middle School with Jennifer Schneider, Director; Trico CUSD # 176 with Keith Shasteen, Director and trinity Lutheran with Nelda Cameron, Director.
The 2010 Junior High Band Festival began at 7:00 p.m. that night with the 6th Grade Band performing first. They played several selections from the repertoire including, Crown of Glory, Robert W. Smith; Patriotic Bits and Pieces, arr. Michael Story; Jupiter from the Planets, Arr. Michael Story & Robert W. Smith and Popcorn Prelude, Mike Hannickel.
In between the 6th grade performance and the Junior High Band performance there was a very exciting percussion ensemble performance of the Chris Brooks' song titled, Wop Upside the Head. The combined ensemble from all of the schools did a wonderful job of executing this piece much to the crowd's delight.
The Junior High band portion of the concert consisted of music selected from the following repertoire; El Capitan, Michael Story & Robert W. Smith; Northern Lights, Larry Neeck, Kingdom Hearts Theme, arr. Michael Story and Doctor Rockenstein, arr. Steve Hodges.
The entire concert was fantastic with the extremely large crowd enjoying every selection. Chester music lovers were especially happy to see and hear Mr. Birchler once again and "Mr. B" was very emotional about returning to Chester to direct a band in Colbert Gymnasium as he did so many times in his 44 years of teaching and directing music.
Sue Colonel, CGS Band Director, did a wonderful job of serving as the hostess and coordinator of the 2010 Junior High Band Festival and the crowd seemed to fully agree with that assessment. Hats off to Colonel, Mr. Birchler, Mr. Leist and all of the participating junior high and 6th grade band members for a providing a very entertaining and enjoyable experience.