The Garden City Telegram
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Area marching bands compete in festival
Published 10/21/2009 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Before their score was announced, members of the Garden City High School marching band stood on the field in front of a large crowd underneath the Memorial Stadium lights.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Members of the Garden City High School marching band perform Tuesday at Memorial Stadium during the WAC Marching Band Festival. GCHS received a I rating in the competition.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Amy Powell performs a trumpet solo Tuesday as she and other members of the Holcomb High School marching band compete in the WAC Marching Band Festival at Memorial Stadium.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Russell Harder plays electric guitar with the Garden City High School marching band Tuesday during their "Heavy Metal" themed performance at Memorial Stadium at the WAC Marching Band Festival.
The announcer paused for a few moments before giving the band's rating.
"My heart skipped a beat," said Kyla Strickland, a freshman clarinet player.
"We were nervous," said Stephanie Mena, also a freshman clarinet player.
The packed crowd at Memorial Stadium cheered as the GCHS marching band received a rating of I, the best rating on a scale of I to V.
Seven southwest Kansas high school bands performed at the Western Athletic Conference Marching Festival Tuesday night in Garden City. Each band performed for about 10 minutes, and all the bands marched and played music to different themes.
GCHS's theme was Heavy Metal. The band played songs from Guns N' Roses and AC/DC, including "Welcome to the Jungle," "Dirty Deeds," "CANtastic," and "You Shook Me All Night Long."
Ryan Elliott, band director, said he was pleased with the band's performance.
"The kids worked really hard," Elliott said.
The band members have a strong character and self-discipline, he said, which helped them in the performance.
"They do their best in every rehearsal," Elliott said.
Other bands that received a I rating include Hays, Liberal and Dodge City. Scott Community High School and Holcomb High School each received a II rating. Great Bend opted to receive comments from the judges instead of a rating.
Paul White, Holcomb High School band director, said he also was pleased with his band.
He said the band faced challenges before the festival, including not practicing outside for several days due to bad weather and having several band members sick.
Holcomb was the smallest band to perform, with 28 members.
Holcomb's theme was music of the Blues Brothers. The band performed to "Soul Man," "Last Night," and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love."
The five seniors in Holcomb High School's band, Kaci Norman, trumpet; Brandon Salter, trombone; Rosario Interial, flute; William Rapp, trumpet; and Lori Harshbarger, trombone, said they were pleased with their performance.
"We did pretty good," Salter said.
The students said they liked the music they played during the festival. White said he picked the music after the concert band played some of it last year and liked it.
For Rapp, he said his favorite part was playing with sunglasses on.
White said it's nice to have smaller area bands play in the festival. It gives the high school kids more experience, he said.
Of the seven bands that marched, GCHS was the largest with 150 members. Once all the bands performed, they all marched to the field. Drum majors stepped in front and received their ratings and trophies.
Jessie Noble and Logan Dinkel, senior drum majors for GCHS, said they were positive the band would do well in the festival.
Dinkel said they worked hard to receive the I rating.
"It was a lot of hard work," he said.
Noble added: "They were amazing."
Found 1 comment(s)!
Dissing the small band
Scott City Marching Band, being the second band to perform, played a show, "Phantom of the Piano Studio." After watching all the bands perform their shows I felt that Scott City's was the strongest, second only to Dodge City. SC fielded only 59 members and still marched more than any other band, once again besides Dodge's band. All other bands did some cute little dancing bits while their drumline played, (Hays) yet still received a I. SC picked a great show that combined class, comedy, great fundamentals in both marching and playing. While other bands danced to what would make decent pep band music and threw in a few marching moves, Dodge and Scott truly were MARCHING bands. While I have the upmost respect for area schools and enjoyed the performances, competition is competition and this just didn't cut it. To put Scott City in the same category as Holcomb (being the only bands to receive II's) is just embarrassing. And just as bad as that is to put Garden City and Hays in the same category as Dodge. I could've judged this competion like these judges did without even being there. Give the small bands II's and the larger bands I's. Congrats to Dodge for a great performance. Scott City, you deserved better.
Posted by: Anonymous on 10/22/2009
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