Marching Band Competition Displays Evolution in Music, Performances

High school marching bands from throughout the region competed Saturday for the coveted “Division I” ratings from judges at the San Angelo Stadium. Called the “Concho Classic Marching Festival”, San Angelo Central High School hosted the event. From the region, 15 high school marching bands competed.

This year, UIL rules have the 5A and 4A schools advancing up to statewide competition. Central’s 6A band is not eligible for state competition until next year. But Lake View, a 5A school , is headed to state with their rendition of the symphonic score, “Pablo”.

Marching band presentations have graduated to full-up musical theater to be competitive. Gone are the military-style performances where precision is judged on military bearing while marching to a John Phillip Sousa march, or the 1950s era Clifton Williams’ Strategic Air Command. Through the years, high school performances have evolved to show band-style performance, much like the University of Texas Longhorn Band, to marching percussion section-focused drum and bugle corps style to what I describe as today’s post-modern.

Post-modern marching bands involve non-traditional instruments and soloists. Woodwinds are brought to the front using microphones. Full percussion sections, complete with xylophones sit in “pits” near the center track area of the field. ASU’s band featured a Fender Stratocaster guitar.

The music selected usually follows a theme. During the early- to mid-1990s, band directors would convert or transcribe classical orchestral pieces, usually American classics like composers Aaron Copeland (Appalachian Spring) or Howard Hanson into marching band music. Today, that same transcribing extends into popular culture. Late into Saturday’s event, classic rock of the 1970s seemed to be the theme. Central’s band took Queen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and then “We Will Rock You” to a marching band level. While Angelo State University’s band explored Grand Funk Railroad.

Lake View’s band is performing a marching band original, “Pablo!” by Richard Meyer, a musical tribute to the late great artist Pablo Picasso (See segments of their show from Lake View’s football game halftime show here).

A marching band desires a “Division I” as determined by a panel of (usually) three judges. The lower the Division number, the better the performance. Here are Saturday’s scores.

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