The Talawanda High School marching band is competing in the Mid-States Band Association (MSBA) Marching Band Finals Nov. 3 at Beavercreek High School, in Beavercreek, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.
"Bands do more than the 'rah rah shish-koom-bah' stuff these days," said Talawanda High School Band Director Mike Marston. "(They) are in the competitive arena and students must devote a lot of time to pull it off."
The competition separates bands into five different categories depending on the number of band members. This puts Talawanda in the class AA, category as having 36 to 54 playing members.
Within these categories, bands will compete against each other and Talawanda High School will be performing along with 28 other bands in its class-competing against high school bands from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, according to Marston.
"The name of our show is called Distortion," he said. "The name was inspired by a Cirque du Soleil song called Distorted."
Marston also said the Talawanda band will be playing two other pieces from Cirque du Soleil at the competition.
Marston describes the show as being based on various types of distortion, including color, sound, cognitive and visual distortion.
With distortion as the underlying theme, the band's performance will include large backdrops in the field depicting various paintings and photographs from famous artists to complement the music.
Along with this visual presentation, Marston explained the band would add some excitement to the performance by incorporating various electronic sounds in order to further the theme of "artistic distortion."
Marston explained that he is looking forward to the upcoming competition because the Talawanda students have worked hard and have been successful in all of their endeavors so far this year.
In past years, Marston said Talawanda has ranked relatively high in the MSBA Marching Band Competition, which they have participated in it since 2002, and making the finals in 2003 and 2004.
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Yet there is more to marching band than winning competitions.
Miami University Band Director David Shaffer elaborated on his experience involving high school band.
"Band competitions, like athletic competition, build the essence of team work, dedication, responsibility, leadership and pride in the organization," he said.
Shaffer said that bands generally participate in only one competition a year, since they work through the summer and fall seasons to perfect their performance.
University bands, such as Miami's marching band, do not participate in competitions, but they do play as exposition bands at these competitive events, Shaffer said.
There are several different levels of competition in which high school bands across the nation can take part. Shaffer explained that state level contests are generally sponsored by the Ohio Music Education Association. National competitions, such as the one Talawanda will be participating in, are hosted by organizations such as Bands of America (BOA) or Mid-States, among others.
Shaffer also mentioned that Miami was involved in hosting a contest this September for BOA.
The MSBA marching band finals are a popular event, and according to Matson, will undoubtedly draw a big crowd.
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