Lake Park, Prospect bands win
Marching bands converged on Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University Saturday for the State of Illinois Marching Band Invitational, unofficially considered the state championship.
“It's the pinnacle of the season in Illinois,” says Mike Chiodo, band director of the Lake Park High School Marching Lancers. “With only a couple of exceptions, every one of the top bands in the state was there.”
Marian Catholic High School from Chicago Heights won the grand championship for the seventh time in 10 years. However, Lake Park won the Class 6A title and second overall, after taking first for music and visual performance as well as crowd appeal.
Prospect High School's Marching Knights took second in Class 5A and wound up fourth overall, while Naperville North placed sixth and Warren Township finished 14th among the top bands to make the finals.
“Our kids did a good job, especially considering the conditions,” said Prospect Band Director Chris Barnum, noting the more than two hour rain delay.
Lake Park's program, “Birds of A Feather,” had the band and its flag corps members emulating everything birds, from parakeets in the opening segment to penguins and eagles in the dramatic finale, meant to evoke the soaring flight of an eagle.
Nearly all of the music was original, Chiodo says, and students donned costumes and carried props including flags made of six layers of silk to simulate birds' wings.
“Every once in a while, it's fun to do something original,” says Chiodo, whose band dominated the ISU competition during the 1990s, but has only won the grand championship in 2002 and 2003 in recent years. “It allowed us to not only teach the kids how to march but how to incorporate theatrical body movements.”
In contrast, Prospect's show “Away Above the Chimney Tops,” had no props or costumes apart from the flags and band students in uniform. Instead they relied on the strength of their music and drill formations, as they opened with an arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and ended with the familiar melody of “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy.
Yet Prospect's fourth-place finish came after going unbeaten during the fall competitive season, but its director, Chris Barnum, conceded the ISU contest features the best in the activity.
“Because of our placement in the finals, we had the chance to watch some of the final bands,” Barnum said. “We're so lucky to have bands like that, right here, in Illinois.”
The Marching Knights will leave Illinois Wednesday and travel to Atlanta to compete in their last competition of the year – a Bands of America super regional tournament, held in the Georgia Dome.
Lake Park's band will compete in a Bands of America regional competition on Nov. 6 in Indianapolis, before returning one week later for the Bands of America Grand National Championships.