Oakview Band First Rate

THE NEWS – March 22, 1979

The Oakview junior high school concert band, sixty eight members strong, received a Division I or First Place rating at the annual Illinois Grade School Music Association District Band Contest held on Saturday March 17, 1979, at Shabbona, Illinois.

Each band’s performance of a march and two other “overture type” selections is adjudicated by three instrumental music specialists who make written and taped comments and assign each band a rating of Division, I, Il, or Ill. Bands receiving a Division I rating are eligible to compete in the State Finals Band Contest held on the last Saturday in April.

The District 73½ Oakview Concert Band, under the direction of Donald Stahlberg, has received a First Place rating at the District level competition for fourteen consecutive years. “‘Decreasing enrollment is making it difficult to maintain the same standard of excellence and success that we have enjoyed over the years. We are drawing band players from a student population that is approximately 65 percent smaller than when we started competing. Though our band size is the same as in previous years, we have to work harder now,” Stahlberg said.