Prospect band looks for win in St. Louis
One week after winning the Governor's Trophy at the University of Illinois Marching Band Festival, the Prospect High School Marching Knights have stepped up the competition.
On Friday, all 180 band members and their directors, traveled to St. Louis for the two-day Bands of America Super Regional Marching Band Competition.
They were among 50 top bands from 11 states that marched in the preliminaries Friday night, which continue today, before the finals take place tonight at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
"It wasn't our strongest performance of the year," Chris Barnum, band director, said after finishing Friday night. "But there were still a lot of things that were really great about it. The weekend is off to a good start."
Barnum said the band hasn't performed in a dome in three years. "So it was putting the kids in a completely different environment than they are used to." Barnum said. "We rehearse in a parking lot. We're used to performing in outdoor stadiums. (But) tonight was in a dome. I think they did a nice job with that."
Prospect will compete against some of the best in the field, including the 2006 grand national champion, Broken Arrow High School from Oklahoma, which performed immediately before Prospect in the preliminaries.
While Bands of America holds its Grand National Contest in November in Indianapolis, this weekend's Super Regional competition is not a qualifier. Regional events are complete championships in their own right, officials say.
Instead, Bands of America invites up to 100 bands to its national championship, based on their top flight finishes the year before.
This is Prospect's last competition of the year. Earlier this fall, it won both the Lancer Joust at Lake Park High School and the Illini Marching Festival, while placing fourth at an earlier Bands of America regional competition in Oxford, Ohio.
The Knights' competition show, "Marching Metamorphosis," features famous marches, from Sousa to Tchaikovsky, but is presented in a more contemporary way.
"We realized that marching bands don't play marches that often," Barnum said. "We usually play show tunes, movie themes or classical music, so we thought it was about time we played marches."
In Champaign last weekend, the band took first place caption awards for their color guard and percussion. More thrilling, it drew a standing ovation at the end of their program, from many of the other 46 bands that watched it perform.
"The kids were on such a high after that," says band parent Kevin Bolger of Arlington Heights. "If they perform as well as they did last weekend, they'll do well."