EDUCATION: AND THE BAND PLAYED ON...

JACKSON, Mo. -- When the Jackson Marching Band Festival started in 1945, only six bands took the field. By 1961, the event had become so popular that concurrent festivals were spun off in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Kennett, Mo. This year, 19 bands will perform in Jackson and a total of about 40 in the three cities combined.

Tuesday's continuation of a tradition begun by legendary Jackson and Southeast band director Leroy Mason will have a new twist.

In the recent past, Jackson students were bused uptown for a 1:30 p.m. parade, then returned to class. This year, students will be dismissed from classes for the day at 2:30 p.m., and the parade will begin at 3:30 p.m.

The massed bands will begin performing at 6:30 p.m. as usual. The cost of the show is $2 for adults and $1 for students.

The change was made because the city's student population has grown so large and the schools are so spread out now that returning the students to class after the parade has become more difficult. Some people have complained about the change, and the crowd that watches the parade may be smaller.

But, Jackson High School band director Pat Schwent said, "We don't consider it a major catastrophe. Perhaps it will be better for some people who couldn't make it in the middle of the day."

Instead of practicing for the massed bands performance after the parade, the bands this year will practice before the parade.

Styles of music and marching have evolved since the festival began, but one constant remains: The festival is noncompetitive. "All bands will be appreciated and warmly welcomed," Schwent said.

"Many bands that will be at this festival will never have an opportunity to march at a football game since they do not have football."

Jackson is the largest band at the festival with 159 members while Delta High School's 17 members will compose the smallest band.

This year's show will salute the festival's past, present and future. The bands will recognize the names of the original directors -- Mason, Albert Schnockenberg of Dexter, Melvin Leimer of Perryville, R.L. Morris of Poplar Bluff and Robert Head of Sikeston -- and pay tribute to directors who made the festival work in more recent years, people like Jackson's Nick Leist, Cape Girardeau Central's Bill Ewing, Poplar Bluff's just-retired Pat Curry and Perryville's Harvey Miller.

Looking to the future, the festival will salute the band directors-to-be who doubtless are among the high school musicians on the field.

Schwent performed in the festival as a student from 1964-66. "It was the biggest event in my life to come from Valle High School in Ste. Genevieve," she said. "Perhaps it's why I'm a band director now."

In those days, the festival started at 10 in the morning and vendors sold balloons and whistles on the city streets. The Rotary Club took the band directors to dinner, and the students took over the town.

No matter how the festival changes, Schwent said, ""The same tradition is there that existed 56 years ago.".