"At the midwinter convention held in Omaha on January 17, 1947, the board approved a new system of international quartet sectional preliminaries, increasing the number of preliminary areas from four to eight. This time Michigan was chosen as one of the eight areas for the preliminary contests, and the number of quartets that were to go on to international was based on area membership as of March 31, 1947, with at least one quartet from every area. The preliminaries in each area were to be held May 9, 10, 11, 1947 with different judges for each. Some other changes were mandated by the Board, including dates of chapter and district annual meetings, and sixteen members were required not only to charter but to maintain a charter. Up until 1947, only eight members were required for a chapter charter.
 Barons of Harmony
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 Town Criers
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 Antlers
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"The eighth annual district contest was held in the Kellogg Auditorium in Battle Creek on February 17, 1947. The Saginaw Chapter's BARONS OF HARMONY took the championship (Howard Heath, Chuck Sarle, Bill Oursler and Jarv Albro). Next came the CLEF DWELLERS of Oakland County, the TRAVELERS of Grand Rapids, the CONTINENTALS (formerly of Muskegon, then Whitehall Chapter), and the TOWN CRIERS
of Kalamazoo. Twenty-six quartets competed in the morning, and fifteen competed in the finals. The retiring champions, the ACOUSTICAL PERSECUTIN' FOUR received a certificate for "championship behavior" from District President Bob Walker. Kellogg Auditorium was a sellout for the evening finals. Bob Walker was district president in 1947 and Howard Heath of Saginaw was the secretary. Extension work in Michigan and Ontario was the outstanding achievement of the year. Dr. M. J. Kennebeck of Muskegon was named by Walker to head a committee for entertainment of veterans in hospitals. This group arranged for a statewide plan for participation by chapters. The international preliminaries were held in May of 1947 in Jackson. The Michigan quartets which survived the eliminations to get into the international finals were the ANTLERS of Flint, the CLEF DWELLERS of Oakland County, the CONTINENTALS from White Lake and the GARDENAIRES from Garden City. The BARONS OF HARMONY from Saginaw was selected as the alternate quartet. At the 1947 annual meeting held at Grand Rapids, Walker was re-elected president and Dr. Kennebeck was named secretary. It was during this year that the Michigan District, consisting of the Lower Peninsula and the eastern part of the Upper, was created. The international convention and contests were held in Milwaukee June 13-15, 1947. Four of the Michigan District quartets ended up as finalists, including the ANTLERS, the CONTINENTALS, the CLEF DWELLERS and the GARDENAIRES. At the International Board meeting, Edwin S. Smith from the Wayne Chapter was elected a vice president of the Society, and Willis A. Diekema of the Holland Chapter was elected an international board member. The Jackson Chapter won first place in the Achievement Awards for the 30,000–99,000 population group with Saginaw receiving an honorable mention. Mt. Pleasant and Marcellus also received honorable mentions in their respective groups. The decision was also made to hold the next international convention in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1948.
Bill Diekema's arrangement of "Keep America Singing" introduced to Society
 Willam Diekema
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One of the highlights of the Milwaukee convention was the introduction of our present Society theme song, "Keep America Singing," which was authored, composed, and arranged by Willis A. Diekema of the Holland Chapter. It was sung at the quartet finals on June 14, 1947, for the first time by the Milwaukee Chapter Chorus under the direction of Tom Needham. According to the August 1947 Harmonizer: "It is a highly interesting commentary that two men, Frank Thorne and Bill Diekema, each responding to his own independent thinking that the Society slogan `Keep America Singing' should be expressed in harmony, simultaneously composed two worthy and entirely different type songs bearing that title. In a Society of our magnitude there is plenty of room for both, and any chorus might well include the two in its repertoire." The Diekema arrangement was adopted later as the official Society arrangement, with the only alteration being the addition of the second verse and entitling it "Keep the Whole World Singing." In this way the original first verse, which Diekema had objected to changing, was kept intact. This was accomplished by action of the International Board at its midwinter meeting in January of 1991. It was also discovered many years later at our international headquarters that three other arrangements with the same name were in the archives by other composers. The slogan must have been popular.
[index]
[1946]
[1947]
[1948]
[1949]
[1950]
[Contents]
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