The Sound and Spirit of Columbus plays before Columbus Northճ game against Bloomington South at Columbus North, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. Paige Grider for The Republic
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s combined high school marching band is not advancing to the state championships, but the group still has another competition ahead.
The Sound and Spirit of Columbus competed in the Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) Open Class Semi-State Marching Band Festival at Ben Davis High School on Saturday. The event determined the 10 Open A bands that will represent the class at Indiana’s 50th State Marching Band Finals on Oct. 28 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
According to ISSMA, the following Open A bands will compete at state: Fishers, Goshen, Homestead/Ft. Wayne, Carroll/Ft. Wayne, Center Grove/Greenwood, Avon, Carmel, Westfield, Brownsburg and Noblesville.
However, while the Sound and Spirit may not have made it to the state finals, they’ll be bound for Lucas Oil Stadium next month for another competition — the Bands of America Grand National Championships, which take place from Nov. 9-11 at the venue. Registration in the event is open to all high school marching bands on a first come, first served basis.
Music For All, the not-for-profit that organizes Grand Nationals, estimates that nearly 100 bands will perform at the event, which also features special exhibition performances, an expo and a leadership development opportunity for students.
Under the current schedule, which is subject to change, the Sound and Spirit will perform in the preliminaries at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 9. Semi-finalists will be announced the evening of Nov. 10, with semi-finals and finals taking place on Nov. 11.
The Sound and Spirit of Columbus also performed at the Bands of America Indianapolis Super Regional Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday but did not advance to the event’s finals. Out of the 14 bands that did advance, Carmel High School was the winner.
