All-Illinois Junior Band

Illinois Band Directors

General Info

About AIJB

The All-Illinois Junior Band was founded for the express purpose of creating a premier musical experience for the state’s finest middle school band students. As the first statewide middle school honor band in over half a century, membership in AIJB is determined solely through competitive blind auditions. Its goals are to provide an opportunity for middle school students to perform excellent literature with a mature ensemble and distinguished conductor, to interact with similarly dedicated student musicians from around the State of Illinois, and to encourage and inspire these outstanding young musicians to continue their musical studies.

Nationally Recognized Guest Conductor

The finest national recognized conductors and music educators working with students.

Amazing Facilities

Rehearsal and performance in the world class Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois.

Highly Selective

Blindly adjudicated auditions with high standards for acceptance. Membership determined solely by audition.

Quality Repertoire

High quality literature prepared by the students in advance of the festival.

Instrumentation

Appropriately sized ensemble with balanced instrumentation.

Great Value

Single participation fee covers costs associated with the AIJB Festival, including a t-shirt, Friday night reception, and lunch on Saturday. (Free concert admission, no director fee, and no school participation fee)

2026 Guest Conductor

Chris Gleason is the Art and Creativity Consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. He recently concluded twenty-five years as an instrumental music educator in East Troy, LaCrosse, and most recently Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He is the 2017 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, 2017 and 2022 semi-finalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award and the first Wisconsin teacher to be named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 50 years. He was recently selected as one of five educators for the prestigious 2022 Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence by the NEA Foundation as well as a Top 50 Finalist for the 2021 Global Teacher Prize sponsored by the Varkey Foundation and UNESCO. Mr. Gleason was selected from 8,000 nominations from 121 countries around the world. He was recently honored with the Wisconsin Badger’s Outstanding Educators Award and the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award from his alma mater, UW-Eau Claire where he earned his BME degree in 1997. Gleason earned his Masters Degree from UW-LaCrosse in 2002 and is a Conn-Selmer Education Clinician.

Mr. Gleason’s bands have performed at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin State Capitol Rotunda, the “New Wisconsin Promise Conference”, and the 2006 and 2009 Wisconsin State Music Conferences. The Patrick Marsh Middle School Band has commissioned composers in its ComMission Possible Project such as Samuel R. Hazo (Blue and Green Music -2009), Brian Balmages (Sun Cycles – 2012), Michael Sweeney (Particles – 2013), Erik Morales (One Giant Leap – 2014), John Mackey (Lightning Field – 2015), Alex Shapiro (Rock Music- 2016), Brian Balmages (Twittering Machine – 2017), Andrew Boysen Jr (Tales of the Headless Horseman – 2018), Michael Markowski (Drawing Mars – 2019), Erika Svanoe (A Journey In Time – 2022), Viet Cuong (Inland Oceans -2023), Kelijah Dunton (Master Of My Fate -2023). In 2024 he will commission four composers – Jodie Blackshaw (band), Brian Balmages (band), Alysia Lee (choir), and Jessica Meyer (orchestra).
In 1992 Mr. Gleason was selected as the Wisconsin Governor’s Scholar to Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Mr. Gleason has performed professionally at Disneyland, Valleyfair, and the Mall of America. He has been guest conductor of numerous camps and festivals including the Music For All National Band Camp, Tarleton Invitational Band Festival (Texas), National Band Association –Wisconsin Chapter Junior High All-State Band, Tri-State Honors Band, UW-Madison Summer Music Clinic, UW-Milwaukee Honors Band, UW-Whitewater Band Camp and numerous regional honor bands across Wisconsin, California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Mississippi.

He is the chair-elect of the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) Committee, the past chair of the Wisconsin State Middle Level Honors Band and the Wisconsin State Middle Level Honors Project. He has taught workshops at VanderCook College of Music, the Los Angeles Unified School District in California, The NAfME National In-Service Conference, numerous school districts in the Midwest, and Hong Kong. He has presented clinics at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic as well as the Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin State Music Conventions.

In 2020, he was selected for the Music for All’s Advocacy in Action Award as well as the 2019 “50 Directors Who Make A Difference” School Band and Orchestra Magazine Award. He has also been recognized with the UW-La Crosse Distinguished Alumni Award (2017), Melvin F. Pontious Sparks in Music Education Award (2016), Michael G. George Distinguished Service Award (2016) and the Vi Miller Award for Excellence (2013) by Dane Arts and has been featured in the March 2015 Instrumentalist Magazine, and books: Think Like Socrates: Using Questions to Invite Wonder and Empathy Into the Classroom (Shanna Peeples, 2018) and Rehearsing the Middle School Band (Stephen Meyer, 2018). He was a 2018 National LifeChanger of the Year Award nominee. Mr. Gleason is the founder and organizer of the Beyond The Notes Music Festival Inc. in Wisconsin Dells which has to date inspired more than 44,000 young musicians and 85 future music educators.

In 2017, Mr. Gleason also held a position as Engagement Specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction delivering presentations at universities, school districts and conferences across Wisconsin. Mr. Gleason also assisted TED-Ed with the development and launch of an online course that teaches educators how to identify, record and share their ideas in the form of short, TED-style talks. Mr. Gleason recently presented his own talk at 2019 TEDxOshkosh entitled, “Lighting a Fire in Kids”. He has worked with Teach Plus in a national effort to support Title II funding as well as preventing gun violence in U.S. schools. Mr. Gleason was selected as a 2018-19 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow and recently traveled to South Africa. He currently serves as a mentor on the NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellowship Team and as an Advisor for the NEA Foundation.. Mr. Gleason is a representative for the Sun Prairie Education Association and a member of the American School Band Directors Association (ASBDA), National Band Association (NBA), Wisconsin Music Educators Association (WMEA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), National Educators Association (NEA), Wisconsin Educators Association Council (WEAC), Wisconsin Teachers of the Year Network (WTOYN), Wisconsin Bandmasters Association (WBA) and the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY)

Gold Sponsors

Testimonials

Thanks so much for putting in all of the work to provide the AIJB experience for the students! I am completely impressed with how well everything was prepared and organized. It certainly was the best middle level honor band with which I have ever worked — a joyful experience for me the entire time!

Dougles Akey, 2017 AIJB Guest Conductor

I truly appreciate the opportunity you’ve provided for our more motivated students. I look forward to being a part of it again in the future. My band parents were thrilled with the entire experience.

Tom Tedeschi, Lakeview Jr. High School

My applicants practiced harder than I’ve ever seen them, listening back, reflecting, recording…regardless of whether they make it into the ensemble or not, it has already been a great learning process.

Karen Moffett, Westview Hills Middle School

Thank you for your monumental efforts on behalf of these students in the All Illinois Junior Band. As a parent, I could not have asked for a better junior high band experience for my daughter. She returns from this weekend with new enthusiasm and a sense of pride from being a part of this group. The quality of the conductors and sectional staff give my child a level of instruction and musical experiences that are hard to match anywhere else in the state. I am forever grateful to both of you for your efforts to give all these band students a rewarding, educational, and inspiring band experience.