It’ll be a spectacular Saturday, as marching bands will take the field and fill the Illinois air from I-72 to I-88, with a performance in Lisle by the celebrated and symphonious Marching Illini.
The school song of the university, “Illinois Loyalty,” was first performed March 3, 1906, and is the first school song ever written for a university in the US. The Marching Illini were also the first college band to use the upright sousaphones in place of tubas on the marching field.
But perhaps the biggest place Illinois holds in marching band history comes from 1907. At a football game against the University of Chicago—when Chicago was still in the Big 10—the group became the first band to perform a halftime show (in formation) at a football game.
In all, four marching band festivals take place, and Voxitatis will have special coverage, including interviews and photos, from the Naperville Central Marching Classic, which takes place at Illinois Benedictine University in Lisle. In the information below, all festivals are on Saturday and all bands are from Illinois high schools unless noted otherwise. Voxitatis will update this page as results become available.
Special performance by the Marching Illini
The Marching Illini from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are expected to perform at this festival, following the performance by Naperville Central High School. The Big 10 college marching band includes about 350 students from 18 states. The band performed during halftime of Saturday’s game against Western Michigan:
Schedule of bands
12:00 — Morris Community — Dis(appear)
12:15 — Lakes Community, Lake Villa — The Room
12:30 — Harry D Jacobs, Algonquin — Grovers Corners 2016
12:45 — Wheaton Warrenville South, Wheaton — Recess
1:00 — Naperville North — Mondrian: Hip to Be Square
1:30 — Benet Academy, Lisle — PRESSURE: The Music of Billy Joel
1:45 — Geneseo — The Music of the Geneseo Knights
2:00 — Prairie Ridge, Crystal Lake — Resurrection
2:15 — Argo, Summit — Scheherazade
2:45 — Thornton Fractional South, Lansing — Masquerade
3:00 — Amos Alonzo Stagg, Palos Hills — For All Mankind
3:15 — Lemont — Amongst the Clouds
3:30 — Maine West, Des Plaines — Interstellar
4:30 — Oswego — Illusions
4:45 — Plainfield North — Spellbound
5:00 — Oak Park/River Forest, Oak Park — Phat Tuesday
5:15 — Neuqua Valley, Naperville — The Swingin’ Land of Oz
5:30 — Huntley — GrooveBox
5:45 — Marian Catholic, Chicago Heights — Unbroken
6:15 — Lockport Township — Winged Triumph
6:30 — Downers Grove South — Cosmic
6:45 — Romeoville — Neo-Gyptian
7:00 — Batavia — The Anatomy of Sound
7:15 — Warren Township, Gurnee — Pearl Harbor
7:30 — Naperville Central — Red
Links and resources
- Festival website and site map
- Live streaming on The Cube.com (may require registration)
- Google map (if you want to go)
- Grand champion: Lockport Township (full recap sheet)
- Festival summary on Illinois Marching Online
- Interviews, pictures, etc., on Voxitatis (mostly complete)
Judging Panel
Music Performance Individual: Jeff Parthun
Music Performance Ensemble: Mike Madonia
Visual Performance Individual: Erica Bough
Visual Performance Ensemble: Rick Valenzuela
Music General Effect: Jeff Waggoner
Music General Effect: Matt Temple
Visual General Effect: Lori Valenzuela
Percussion: Tim Berg
Color Guard: Chad Quamme
Drum Major: Maureen Temple
For the Midwest Percussion Cooperative: Henry Williams
Timing and Penalties: Chris Babashka
Draft photos
We present here one photo from each band. We’ll be glad to release additional photos to school personnel; just email us. Also, in order to accommodate faster loading on the web (and preserve data for mobile devices), the JPG files have been rezzed down and converted using a LOSSY algorithm. This reduces the quality of the photos a little and makes them unsuitable for print, except in the most low-res publications. Email us for more info.
Morris Community High School
Lakes Community High School
Harry D Jacobs High School
Wheaton Warrenville South High School
Naperville North High School
Benet Academy
Geneseo High School
Prairie Ridge High School
Argo High School
TF South High School
Amos Alonzo Stagg High School
Lemont High School
Maine West High School
Oswego High School
Plainfield North High School
Oak Park-River Forest High School
Neuqua Valley High School
Huntley High School
Marian Catholic High School
Lockport Township High School
Downers Grove South High School
Romeoville High School
Batavia High School
Warren Township High School
Naperville Central High School
Schedule of Bands
6:00 — Bement — James Bond Show
6:15 — Sparta
6:30 — Maroa-Forsyth, Maroa — A Tribute to Michael Jackson
6:45 — Okaw Valley, Bethany — Will Love Run Out?
7:00 — Auburn
7:15 — Sullivan
7:30 — Sangamon Valley, Niantic — I Love the ’80s
7:45 — Olympia, Stanford — New Horizons
8:00 — Tri-Valley, Downs — Persis
8:15 — Jacksonville
8:30 — Mattoon
8:45 — Glenwood, Chatham — Riverdance
9:00 — Monticello — 1001 Nights
9:15 — Mt Zion — Medea: Music of Samuel Barber
Links and resources
- Google map (if you want to go)
- Results and recap sheet (not available yet)
- Festival summary on Illinois Marching Online
Pre-show coverage
The marching band games have been in Mt Zion for over a decade, WRSP-TV (FOX affiliate, Springfield) reports.
“It’s cool to see where we place because sometimes it’s better because I think maybe it’s the stress levels are down and we’re not competing,” the station quoted one senior from the band as saying. “I definitely think there’s no tension. We’re more excited and we’re happier to be able to play for the bands after seeing what they did all day. We want to share what we’re able to do.”