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Member Information
AHCB Hall of Fame
Leslie Chilson
- Euphonium & Horn
- Member 1986-Present
- Hall of Fame Class of 2024
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Leslie Chilson has been with the After Hours Community Band since before it was a band, holds the record for longest participation in the band (almost 40 years and counting), and set the visual style of the band. One of the original members of the Parkway Adult Education community band class, she started as a “pre-founding” member on horn in 1985, alongside 5 other brass players and a drummer, with Hall of Fame member Sandy Stoeckel as conductor. Leslie recruited her brother Doug Schieber to come play clarinet and convinced enough of her fellow class members to stick with it to guarantee a second semester. That second semester saw the doubling in size of the band, with addition of future AHCB Hall of Famers Bob Lord, Judy Lord, Ron Pettus, René Sanders, and others. As chronicled in our Band History, that group of folks from the Spring 1986 Parkway band class became the After Hours Community Band.
Leslie made important contributions to that fledgling community band. She was a key part of the discussions in Bob and Judy Lord’s living room about the desire to continue with an independent band. She was clear that the band should be doing free concerts in the community and particularly called out the desire to cater to some of our favorite audiences - seniors and children. She was also an early proponent of our no audition / no fee approach that has kept our band open to all. She found the “green” books of Christmas arrangements (and pointed us towards the “yellow” Soundpower books as well). These books provided simple yet decent arrangements of well-known tunes suitable for a very small band of potentially unusual instrumentation.
Leslie was the main driver behind the visual look of the band. She submitted the winning name to our “Name the Band” contest and came up with the clock logo, with the hands showing it was “after” normal business “hours”. (By the way, did you know the clock is at 7 minutes after 5 for the seven original members of the band?) She also picked the baby blue of our band shirts, figuring most folks had a light blue shirt somewhere in their closet, thereby also establishing that buying a shirt was not required.
In addition to lobbying Parkway band class members into a 2nd semester and recruiting her brother and René Sanders to the band, she recruited Wayne Meyers, Norm Schneider, Dee Ray, and others.
Leslie first played horn and then moved to euphonium. She has the record for longest continuous participation in the band – it’ll be 40 years in the fall of 2025. She has rarely missed a Tuesday, has played every single Memorial Day performance at St. Charles Memorial Gardens to date, and is always a steady presence in the back row. She has been an active player in our Ensemble Concerts in euphonium groups, brass choirs, etc., as well. She has been a “Section Mom” since the beginning, helping to define the role that assigns parts, and ensures section members know where to be when. She started first with the French Horn section and has been the Section Mom for euphoniums/baritones and tubas for decades now.
As one of our founding members, her contributions to our name and visuals, and for all the Tuesdays and other days she has devoted to this band, we welcome Leslie to our Hall of Fame. She has been part of the band for over half her lifespan, and we look forward to many more years of her participation. When she was told of her selection, she commented:
“I’m pleased to be part of this band that fills a very important and specific niche – it is one of the few community bands that charge no membership fees, requires no formal audition and goes year round. It’s amazing to see how we’ve grown and thrived over the years and I hope this band provides enjoyment for both players and audiences for many more years. Play pretty and play on!”
