IL marching band season opens Saturday

Schedule of Bands – preliminary competition

1:30 — Herscher — The Garden of the Heart
1:45 — HD Jacobs, Algonquin
2:00 — Elk Grove, Elk Grove Village — The Coven
2:15 — Naperville Central, Naperville — Red
2:30 — Downers Grove South, Downers Grove — Cosmic
2:45 — John Hersey, Arlington Heights
3:00 — Plainfield North, Plainfield — Spellbound
3:15 — Greendale H.S., Greendale, Wisconsin
3:45 — Victor J Andrew, Tinley Park — This Heart of Glass
4:00 — Batavia — The Anatomy of Sound
4:15 — Lockport Township, Lockport
4:30 — Prospect, Mt Prospect — In the Arena
4:45 — Lemont — Amongst the Clouds
5:00 — Wheeling
5:15 — Lake Park, Roselle — Pale Blue Dot

Special Notes

The Greendale (Wis.) High School marching band is home to 270 of the 937 students enrolled at the school (29%) and has won the state marching band title 12 times.

The Elk Grove High School marching band was in Washington on July 4 for the National Independence Day Parade. Voxitatis talked with several students and the band’s director, Ron Fiorito, while they were in the nation’s capital.

The Prospect High School marching band will be in New York on Thanksgiving to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year. Voxitatis collected the thoughts of one of the band’s drum majors as she found out the band was selected for the parade.

“It was, to say the least, an incredibly exciting day—exciting to the point of my friend crying into my shoulder and screaming ‘NEW YORK BABY HERE WE COME’ and exciting to the point of an enormous confetti hurricane within the confines of one room,” wrote Hannah Thornton. “The word honored can’t even explain how I, how all of us, felt in that moment. We felt victorious. It was insane how quickly the atmosphere in the room changed, and at the same time, it is insane how suddenly our lives have all been changed.”

“It’s not easy to do what we do,” the Daily Herald quoted Chris Barnum, Prospect’s band director and a former baritone player in the school’s marching band, as saying about the 197-member band and this season. “It takes a lot of time and effort and repetition and energy, but once you’re the man in the arena, you have this great achievement. All they want to do is put on a great show and entertain you.”

Results

The band from Prospect High School was named grand champion at the 37th Lancer Joust, according to the finals recap sheet. The full recap sheet from the preliminary competition is also available. Prospect also won caption trophies for best music, best visuals, and best general effect in Class 3A.

A summary of the festival is available on Illinois Marching Online.

Schedule of Bands

1:42 — Bement — James Bond Show
1:56 — Morrison — The Music of Queen
2:10 — Dwight Township, Dwight — Into the Jungle
2:24 — Okaw Valley, Bethany — Will Love Run Out?
2:38 — El Paso-Gridley, El Paso — Carmen
2:52 — Watseka Community, Watseka — Let Freedom Ring
3:06 — Farmington — Spies
3:30 — Streator Township, Streator — Wicked
3:44 — Tri-Valley, Downs — Persis
3:58 — Eureka — Shine
4:12 — East Peoria — Hireath
4:26 — Metamora — The Night Circus
4:40 — Pontiac Township, Pontiac — Fantasy on a Hymn
4:54 — United Township, East Moline — Flight
5:08 — Pekin Community, Pekin — Dreams
5:22 — Olympia, Stanford — New Horizons

7:12 — Geneseo — The Music of the Geneseo Knights
7:26 — Illinois Valley Central, Chillicothe — In the Cloud
7:40 — Dunlap — Red Riding Hood
7:54 — Limestone Community, Bartonville — Silk Road
8:08 — Canton — Imagine

8:32 — Champaign Central, Champaign — Concrete Jungle
8:46 — Normal West, Normal — Letters to Juliet
9:00 — Morton — Untamed
9:14 — Washington Community, Washington — Step in Time

Pre-show Coverage

“I can’t believe how fast 30 years has gone,” the Peoria Journal-Star quoted Jim Tallman, Washington Community High School’s marching band director and the invitational director for 24 years, as saying.

The festival used to take place in the middle of the marching season but was moved to the very first week several years ago. “It’s not a high-pressure, meat-grinder event,” Mr Tallman said. “It’s an opportunity for bands to work out the bugs in their shows, a positive educational experience for the start of the season.”

Results

A full recap sheet of the show has been posted. The band from Morton High School was named grand champion, but seven other class champions and several caption award winners are also shown.

Voxitatis covered this event, complete with pictures and accounts of the various performances.

A summary of the show is available on Illinois Marching Online.

Schedule of Bands

3:00 — Salem Community, Salem
3:13 — Robinson — Pandora Reopened
3:26 — Richland County, Olney — Aerodynamics
3:39 — Nashville Community, Nashville
3:52 — Effingham
4:05 — Mater Dei, Breese
4:31 — Union H.S., Union, Missouri
4:44 — Centralia — The Heist
4:57 — Carbondale — Pathways
5:10 — Highland
5:23 — Triad, Troy
5:36 — Hillsboro H.S., Hillsboro, Missouri

6:28 — Francis Howell H.S., St Charles, Missouri
6:41 — McCluer North H.S., Florissant, Missouri
6:54 — Granite City
7:07 — Francis Howell North H.S., St Charles, Missouri
7:20 — Fort Zumwalt South H.S., St Peters, Missouri
7:33 — Fort Zumwalt North H.S., O’Fallon, Missouri
7:59 — Marquette H.S., Clarkson Valley, Missouri
8:12 — Francis Howell Central H.S., St Charles, Missouri
8:25 — Collinsville — Hello … Goodbye
8:38 — Belleville East, Belleville — Which Witch
8:51 — Rockwood Summit H.S., Fenton, Missouri
9:04 — Edwardsville
9:25 — O’Fallon Township, O’Fallon — The Missing Piece

Results

The band from Fort Zumwalt North High School in O’Fallon, Missouri, was named grand champion of the festival and won caption trophies for the best music, visual, and auxiliary in Class 3A, which wasn’t even the highest class (4A). The full recap for Classes 3A and 4A is available, as is the full recap sheet for Classes 1A and 2A.

A summary of the Metro East Marching Classic is available on Illinois Marching Online.

Schedule of Bands

3:30 — Providence Catholic, New Lenox — What Do I Desire?
3:45 — Wheaton Warrenville South, Wheaton — Recess
4:00 — Dwight D Eisenhower, Blue Island — Suspicious Minds
4:15 — Herscher — The Garden of the Heart
4:30 — Morris Community, Morris — Dis(appear)

5:00 — Brother Rice/Mother McAuley, Chicago — We Interrupt this Broadcast
5:15 — Evergreen Park — Destination: AFRICA
5:30 — Argo, Summit — Scheherazade
5:45 — Fremd, Palatine — Pandora’s Box
6:00 — Reavis, Burbank — The Music of Carlos Santana
6:15 — Glenbard West, Glen Ellyn — The Music of Billy Joel

7:00 — Bolingbrook — Mirror Image
7:15 — Waubonsie Valley, Aurora — The Devil in the White City
7:30 — Huntley — GrooveBox
7:45 — Oswego — Illusions
8:00 — Carl Sandburg, Orland Park — Those We Don’t Speak Of
8:15 — Joliet West, Joliet — Chasing Shadows
8:30 — Plainfield East, Plainfield — Under the Bed
8:45 — Plainfield Central, Plainfield — The Sleeper and the Spindle
9:00 — Oak Park/River Forest, Oak Park — Phat Tuesday
9:15 — Romeoville — Neo-Gyptian
9:30 — A.A. Stagg, Palos Hills — For All Mankind

Results

Waubonsie Valley High School was named grand champion, according to the full recap sheet. The band also won the caption trophy for the best auxiliary in Class 3A.

A summary of the show is available on Illinois Marching Online.

Schedule of Bands

4:20 — Heritage, Broadlands — Back to the 80s
4:40 — Wesclin, Trenton
5:00 — Unity, Tolono
5:20 — Paris Cooperative, Paris

6:20 — Mt Zion
6:40 — Paxton-Buckley-Loda, Paxton
7:00 — Charleston — Star Wars
7:20 — Monticello
7:40 — Sullivan

Results

The band from Monticello High School was named grand champion at the Sullivan festival, according to the full recap sheet. The band also took all caption trophies in Class 2A (music, visuals, general effect, percussion, and auxiliary).

A summary of the festival is available on Illinois Marching Online.

Scheduled to Appear

A-C Central, Ashland
Argenta-Oreana, Argenta
Bismarck-Henning, Bismarck
Crete-Monee, Crete
Fieldcrest, Minonk
Gardner-South Wilmington, Gardner
Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Georgetown
Lexington
Litchfield
Mt Vernon Township, Mt Vernon
Pana
Reed-Custer, Braidwood
Rochester
Round Lake
St Joseph-Ogden, St Joseph
Taylorville
Urbana
Westville
Williamsville