Wayne Valley Marching Band Scores Highest Overall Score in Competition

The Wayne Valley High School marching band participated in a competition on Sunday, September 25th at 3pm at Wayne Valley. They received the highest score out of the other competitors, with Man vs Machine as the captivating theme this year.

Scoring the highest overall is a great accomplishment! Saxophone player Victoria Falso shares her feelings about performing in competitions: “They are very intense, and serious, but after you perform you feel amazing and accomplished, especially if you come in first place.”

The band is under the excellent leadership of Mr. Batiz. He keeps the marching band uplifted and is always proud of their hard work, even if the students felt they didn’t do too well. Member of the color guard, Julia Violante, enjoys participating in competitions greatly. She states, “Well, personally, we [color guard] thought we didn’t do our best, but after we got feedback from the judges, we did really well after all!”

Falso agreed, saying, “It wasn’t our best performance, but Mr. Batiz was proud of our hard work throughout the whole day.”

It goes without saying that a massive amount of preparation is necessary to host a competition. Students who are part of concert band, marching band, and as parents were encouraged to volunteer and help set up the field. Many different jobs were assigned, including guiding the other bands around the campus, and helping out at the snack stand in between performances.

Since the competition took place at Wayne Valley, some say there was a home-field advantage. This may come from the fact that they frequently practice on the field, so they are more familiar with it.

The real advantage comes from the hard work and effort they put into putting on a good show. Violante says the most difficult part of color guard is, “…keeping your stamina during the whole performance, maintaining your proper facial expression, all while doing your best with the flag, sabre, or rifle!”

Falso agrees that keeping your stamina is hard but unlike football games, competitions are where the band can truly shine. “The worst part is that every little thing counts so if you mess up, one of the many judges will notice.But on the other hand, it is very nice because during football games, no one really pays attention to us, so it’s nice when people actually care and pay attention to the band.”

An unbreakable bond is shared throughout the entire band and that truly makes the whole show come together. They are currently preparing for the state competition and will continue to put on a great show in Man vs Machine!