After the division of the country into regional areas in 1939, 20,000 to 25,000 high school bands were listed in the United States. In 1950 a report on Music Education in the schools states that 35,000 high schools have bands. In several states departments of music education have been introduced. The American Music Conference attributes this upsurge in music interest to demands on school systems made by parents. In more than 500 communities in 21 states parents have organized “Community Music Councils” to support school programs, consult with school principals and boards, and to insist upon the employment of music supervisors and instructors. On many occasions unusual means have been used to arouse and stimulate the interest of student players. The directors of a number of Wisconsin school bands hit upon the novel idea of combining a band clinic and a circus. In Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Dr. Lawrence Skilbred, director of music education and 24 other band directors decided to engage Merle Evans, the famous leader of the Ringling Brothers’ Band and hire a miniature three-ring circus of sixteen acts. Each of the twenty-four bands in the group was allowed to send five of their star players. Over 100 outstanding student musicians began rehearsing including Ringlings’ music for their Grand Entry, _Red Wagons_ and _Circus Days_. The gymnasium in the Fond du Lac High School was transformed into a three-ring circus. The demand for tickets couldn’t be supplied. The performance was perfect. Every step of the military ponies, each swing of the trapeze, every pirouette of the waltzing lion was accompanied with appropriate music from the band. At the conclusion Bandmaster Evans mopped his brow and told the All-Star players, “Everything went like clockwork. You were the largest band I have ever conducted--and one of the best!” THE FARM AND TRADES SCHOOL BAND Generally acknowledged as the first School Band in America is “The Farm and Trades School Band” of Thompson’s Island, in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. This school, established in Boston in 1814, was moved to its present location nineteen years later. Nathaniel Hawthorne visited the Island school in 1837 and fully described it in “The American Notebooks,” calling it “The Manual Labor School for Boys.” Today, just as then, besides courses in Junior and Senior high school studies, practical courses are taught in Agriculture, iron forging, painting, printing, woodworking, mechanical drawing, steam engineering and boat operation. The pupils spend half their time in classes and half in working at their trades. The School band was organized in 1857 and has been in continuous existence ever since--for almost a century. The boys’ first attempt at making music was on tissue paper-covered combs. This effect was soon improved by the addition of a bass viol, three violins, a sax horn, a cornopean and a small drum.