On March 15, 1941, the band appeared at the MSBOA Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They played a march written by Henry Fillmore entitled HIS HONOR. You can hear a recording of this historic performance by visiting ANOTHER BIRMINGHAM SITE.
Following the war, the music program, the band, and the Birmingham schools all expanded tremendously. The old high school was bulging at the seams and had reached the end of its useful life. Newspaper stories of the day recount the band's role in campaigning for the bond issue to fund the new Birmingham High School which was built at the corner of Evergreen and Lincoln. Shown below is the first band to attend what would later be renamed Seaholm.
A decade later, Groves would be built finally splitting-up the high school band. The Birmingham music curriculum developed in the band office at Seaholm in the 50s became a model for schools nationwide. Many former students returned to Birmingham to become music teachers and administrators. When Arnold Berndt retired as Director of the band (staying on as a music administrator for the district) in 1962, he was succeeded by Robert Kutscher who added another dimension of community service to the band's history by opening-up Seaholm's excellent facilities to the Birmingham Concert Band in the late 1970s. In May of 1978, under Kutscher's direction, the band celebrated the 50th anniversary of music in Birmingham with many notable music educators and former students in attendance. In April of 2003, the Birmingham Historical Museum put a number of photographs and artifacts from the early history of the band on display at the museum in honor of the 75th anniversary. The band and its members have been the subject of hundreds of newspaper stories over the years communicating everything from upcoming concert dates and programs, to festival achievements, to college and military exploits of graduates. Today, the band and the rest of the Birmingham music program continue the traditions of the past including community service, high achievement at festivals as well as by individual students at solo & ensemble competitions, and through communication with the public.
The preceding material regarding Instrumental Music In The Schools is taken from the collection of the Birmingham Historical Museum and constitutes a small portion of artifacts accumulated over a period of several decades by band parents, students and the family of Arnold Berndt.
To see some old Birmingham Homes which have disappeared click
HOUSES VANISHED.
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