For those of us who may have played a musical instrument in school, our first lessons may have come from Mr. Erling Engstrom. He was the instrumental music director in the Junior High and Middle School (elementary, too?) from 1957-1989.
It seems that those taking lessons from Mr. Engstrom would be excused from class for about 20 minutes to practice in the band room. So that the students would not be excused from the same class for their lessons, they would miss part of a different class each week. Planning for these lessons also had to take into account school-sponsored activities, such as athletic contests or field trips. Scheduling these lessons must have been a nightmare, yet Mr. Engstrom managed to pull it off masterfully. If a student inconveniently "forgot" that a lesson was schedule, Mr. Engstrom might come into a classroom to frequently remind said student about the scheduled lesson.
Our careers overlapped by about 15 years, so I became better acquainted with him in the 70's and 80's. When grades were due, he evaluated each student rather carefully. Those musical words were rather foreign to me, as I had very little music knowledge or talent.
The annuals from our Jr. Hi. days show three bands: regular band, orchestra, and pep band. According to the 1966 annual, "The band and orchestra, under the direction of Erling Engstrom, climaxed the year with the annual spring concert. Another important spring event was the Madison Music contest. The eight-two participants received fifty-seven superior and twenty-four excellent ratings." 57 + 24 =81. Who did not receive either a superior or excellent?
Did the pep band play at some of the Jr. Hi. basketball games? It seems that they were seated on the stage at the Central Elementary gym. Wasn't the Jr. Hi. school song played to the tune of "Minnesota Rouser" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kyIYVNC0-4)? Anyone recall the lyrics? An old program we found under the bleachers had these words (or something similar; if anyone has a more definitive version, let us know):
You rah rah for our Junior High (Or was it ...for old Junior High?)
Red and white our colors are flying
So we'll show that team
Some of our fight
We're behind you
All the way
So you rah for Junior High
When the Jr. Hi. became a middle school, the last line became "So you rah for Middle School."
When Title IX (giving girls the opportunity to play athletics) was implemented, pep band died out. There were very few students to form a band anymore, as most of them were playing a sport.
These last few years Mr. Engstrom seemed to be a daily visitor to the library, where he could read the daily papers and catch up on the latest news. There were times he would arrive before the library even opened, and he could be seen walking around the block or waiting patiently in his car.
Mr. Engstrom definitely touched numerous young lives and left his mark upon them (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/erling-engstrom). If you scroll down to the guestbook entries (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/guestbook/erling-engstrom), you can readily see the influence he had on so many students and colleagues.
Our condolences to his daughters Elaine and Nancy, on the loss of their father.
Does any one recognize the reading from the book of Ecclesiastes? It's the basis for the 1965 song "Turn, Turn, Turn" by the Byrds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVOJla2vYx8), although it was originally written by Pete Seeger in 1959 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn!_Turn!_Turn!). His version is on this site--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbPl91kTFro, but a version by The Limeliters was released earlier (according to Wikipedia: "The song was first released by the folk group the Limeliters on their 1962 album Folk Matinee, under the title "To Everything There Is a Season".[2][10] The Limeliters' version predated the release of Seeger's own version by several months. One of the Limeliters' backing musicians at this time was Jim McGuinn (aka Roger McGuinn), who would later record the song with his band the Byrds and, prior to that, arrange the song for folk singer Judy Collins on her 1963 album, Judy Collins 3.[2] Collins' recording of the song was retitled as "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)", a title that would be retained by the Byrds, though it was shortened to "Turn! Turn! Turn!" on the front cover of the album of the same name and the song became generally known by the shorter version, appearing as such on most later Byrds compilations.[11] " Another version has him accompanying Judy Collins--(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qURAnrk30ng). Again Wikipedia states, "Since Ecclesiastes is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon in the 10th century BC, the Byrds' 1965 recording of the song holds the distinction in the U.S. of being the number 1 hit with the oldest lyrics."
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