Four local bands headed to state finals

Oct. 29—GOSHEN — Elkhart County marching bands swept the Indiana School Music Association Marching Band Semi-State finals this weekend. Five bands in the county will be attending the Finals competition at Lucas Oil Stadium, 500 S Capitol Ave., Indianapolis, in two weeks on Nov. 9.

The lengthy wait between semi-state and finals is due to a Taylor Swift concert coming to the venue this weekend, pushing finals back.

Goshen Crimson Band, Concord Marching Minutemen, Fairfield Marching Pride, NorthWood Red Regiment, and Jimtown Marching Jimmies are noted among the 40 top bands in the state this year and will compete in the ISSMA Marching Band State Finals competition, following semi-state competitions over the weekend.

The Lucas Oil Stadium box office for the day-long event opens at 7:45 a.m. Nov. 9 and tickets can also be purchased on Ticket Master. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students. The clear bag policy is in effect and the venue is cashless, with card-to-cash kiosks available.

The stadium opens at 9 a.m. with performances starting in Open Class D at 9:25 a.m.

First up from Elkhart County is the Jimtown Marching Jimmies at 10:15 a.m., competing against 10 other Class D bands. Awards for Class D will be at 12:15 p.m.

Open Class B begins at 1:20 p.m. and the Concord Marching Minutemen will perform in the class at 1:50 p.m., with awards at 3:50 p.m.

Two Elkhart County bands will perform in Open Class C, which begins at 4:40 p.m. The NorthWood Red Regiment will perform at 5:10 p.m. and the Fairfield Marching Pride will perform at 6:55 p.m., with awards at 7:10 p.m.

Rounding the night off, Indiana's largest marching band class, Open Class A, begins at 8 p.m. with the Goshen Crimson Band performing at 9 p.m. and awards at 10:30 p.m.

Concord Marching Minutemen

In Open Class B, the Concord Marching Minutemen are no strangers to the Lucas Oil Stadium.

"It's a blessing that the community has the tradition of wanting and expecting the band to go to state but that doesn't take away from the joy and fulfillment when you do," said director Steve Peterson. "At the end of the day, when you're announced as a state finalist, it still brings a lot of join to the community and especially the students."

In his first year as director of the band, having served as assistant director prior, Peterson said the leadership of the band remains a critical component of its success.

"We have a team of directors and staff that helps us work together to achieve our goals so it's not like I'm flying a solo ship," he said.

He's not the only change in staff the band has seen. The color guard also has a new director, Sam Surfus.

"We've had a lot of new students involved in the color guard program," Peterson noted. "They've had a tremendous growth this year. There's been a lot of interest in that program because of our new color guard director."

With a younger band overall this year, Peterson said he's been pleasantly surprised to find that Concord's band students this year are an easygoing lot.

"In addition to getting better as performers each week and at each competition those that spend time around this group of kids consistently mention to the staff members how polite and easy-going this band is to be around," he said. "We worked a lot on our rehearsal procedures, but it seems some of it is just lucky that we have a group of students that are inherently kind and willing to work hard."

Concord's show Terra Ascending brings larger-than-life music and art to the field to create an out-of-this-world experience.

"Overall, you could call it a space show," Peterson said.

Songs featured in the performance are "Rocketman," "Enter the Galaxies," "Galactic Empires" and "We Choose to Go to the Moon," all arranged by Mike Pote, featuring large papier-maché planet sculptures on the field with the band.

"The way we create the planets, it helps bring the audience into the performance with us. The music is based around the pop song Rocket Man and that theme comes back within every minute of our show," Peterson said. "When you think of space and exploring the cosmos, there's a lot of strength, there's a lot of power and there's a lot of beauty and wonderment portrayed in our visual package."

Concord's parent preview will be at the high school's Jake Field at 8 p.m. next Wednesday.

The Concord Marching Minutemen perform in Open Class B at 1:50 p.m.

NorthWood Red Regiment

The Red Regiment's show Teetering On the Brink, features music that director Eric Criss calls "top shelf, with arrangements of "Warnings," "Red Skies," "Terra Firma" and "Consensus," arranged by Don Barrett and based on songs by Michael Jackson and Frank Ticheli,

"The arranger did a really good job at putting our show together," Criss said.