DIRECTORS HAVE LEFT THEIR MARKS

How good the Jackson and Cape Girardeau Central high school bands were under Nick Leist and Ron Nall is a matter of record.

Leist's musicians have received 27 consecutive No. 1 ratings at the district music contests. The Jackson students who qualified for state contests in Columbia fill three buses this year.

Leist says he took heat for emphasizing the concert band over the marching band. Some Jackson residents wanted him to challenge Central's vaunted marching band.

Nall's marching bands have won and placed well in so many contests that a wall of fame in the band room is devoted to listing them. This year, the band won four of the five festivals entered, its best showing ever. In the last five years the band has finished in the top five in all but one or two festivals it entered.

"When we didn't finish in the top two or three we didn't cheer," Nall said, adding that the students probably should have been happy with lower finishes in some instances.

But the Central musicians haven't fared badly in the district music contests either. They've received No. 1 ratings the past 10 years and have been rated No. 1 in 18 of Nall's 19 years at the school.

But Jackson's musical strength is undenied.

"There have been years when half the All-District Band members were from Jackson," Nall said.

Though Central has the marching prowess, the annual Jackson Band Festival is the region's largest showcase for marching bands. The great benefit is the opportunity it gives students from small schools to march before an audience, the band directors say.

And though the festival is non-competitive, Nall says his students seemed to rise to the occasion because it was at Jackson.

"Our best show every year was at Jackson. Our kids got so fired up."

Nall said band offers students something athletic teams can't offer to as many.

"When we won a contest, we had a first team of 100. Our worst player won for us that day," he said.

"It's good for a kid to be part of something they can be proud of," Leist said.

Both credited the other music teachers -- Pat Schwent and Scott Vangilder at Jackson; Neil Casey and Mark Ellison at Central -- with making the schools' successes possible.

"Ron and I were part of a team," Leist said. "We just got to stand up."