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Columbus East and North’s combined band may not be headed to state finals, but their 2022 season isn’t over yet, as students prepare for a competition that features nearly 100 marching bands from across the country.
The Sound and Spirit of Columbus will perform at the 2022 Bands of America Grand National Championships, which will be held Nov. 10-12 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The local band is scheduled to perform during the preliminaries at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 10, said Keith Burton, assistant director of bands at North and one of the Sound and Spirit’s four directors.
The group previously competed at the Indiana State School Music Association’s (ISSMA) Open Class Semi-State Marching Band Festival on Oct. 29 at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis but was not selected to advance to the state championships. Twenty bands from the Open A division, including Columbus, performed at semistate, and only the top 10 advanced to the ISSMA State Marching Band Finals, which will be held Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Burton said that the band gave it their all at semistate and put on their best performance of the year.
“In our state in particular, Indiana’s a hotbed of great marching bands,” he said. “It always has been. And there just simply aren’t enough state finals positions for the number of bands that are worthy.”
While the students he observed from North were “shaken and really disappointed” after learning they would not move on to state, they have shown good attitudes as they prepare for grand nationals. Bands of America events are “always the highlight of the year,” he added.
The 2022 Bands of America Grand National Championships will feature 98 high school marching bands during its first two days of preliminary competition. According to organizers, a panel of nationally recognized music educators and marching band experts will evaluate these performances. Up to 38 bands will advance to the event’s semifinals, which will be held on Nov. 12. The top 12 scoring bands from semifinals will then advance to the finals, which will be held on the evening of that same day.
Burton said that if the Sound and Spirit of Columbus keeps up the good work, they have a “realistic shot” at making it to the semifinals.
The event will also include exhibition performances from college and high school ensembles, an expo for spectators and performers, a “Future Music Educators Experience” for more than 200 college music majors, and the presentation of the Patrick John Hughes Parent/Booster Award.
Participation in the annual grand national competition is open to all high school marching bands if space is available, with registration on a first come, first served basis. This year’s event is expected to bring together 15,000 high school students from 20 different states.
After grand nationals, Columbus’ marching band competition season will conclude with an annual recognition program and senior banquet at The Commons.
Burton said that students have shown a remarkable work ethic during the 2022 season and have made “significant strides” from where they were a year before. He added that competitive events are ultimately just a vehicle for improving a band’s performance.
“A lot can get made of competition and placements and all that,” said Burton. “But it’s really about building something as a group and the art of performing as musicians, visual performers, dancers, color guard wise, all that. That’s why people do this activity or do arts-related activities. The feeling that our students had coming off the field this last Saturday, that was absolute joy. They were so excited, I don’t know if anybody’s feet were actually hitting the ground as they were leaving the field. They were just flying high.”
