East and North’s new combined marching band, the Sound and Spirit of Columbus, will compete at regionals this month.
Open Class Regionals will be held on Oct. 16, according to a recent release from the Indiana State School Music Association. Columbus is scheduled to compete at Center Grove High School in Greenwood with a performance time of 5:45 p.m.
Bryan Muñoz, one of the band’s four directors, said the newly-combined band will be performing its 2021 competition show, “Evil Inc.” The cost of attending regionals, for spectators, is $8 per adult and $5 for students and seniors.
Ten other bands from the same Open Class A division as Columbus are scheduled to perform at Center Grove on Oct. 16, including Avon, the Class A state champion from 2019. Another 10 Class A bands will perform at Lafayette Jefferson High School on the same day.
Twenty Class A bands will advance to semi-state, said Muñoz. He noted that there seem to be fewer bands competing this year.
“I’m assuming it’s because of COVID,” he said.
“Last year took a huge financial toll on groups developing and paying for shows and costumes that never got used, and combined with no fundraisers happening last year, some just couldn’t make it happen this year.”
If the Sound and Spirit of Columbus advances to Open Class Semi-state, they will perform at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis on Oct. 30.
After that, the State Marching Band Finals will be held on Nov. 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Ten bands from the four open class divisions — A, B, C, D — will compete, with a state champion named from each division.
The American Dairy Association Indiana and Prairie Farms Dairy will present a $1,000 “Winners Drink Milk” scholarship to a student from each of the four state champion bands.
Muñoz noted that anticipation is building as the band gets closer to regionals and continues to perfect their performance.
“Each week we perform, we receive not only a score from judges but comments as well,” he said. “We take their comments and make adjustments to our show. Ultimately our show is never ‘complete.’ We want to continue to tweak and refine so each performance is better than the last.”
The season is going well, he added. The Sound and Spirit recently won at an invitational at Floyd Central High School and took the title of grand champion for highest score of all participating bands.
Competitions provide a chance for the band to get feedback from judges, which helps them prepare for ISSMA.
North has typically advanced to semi-state, said Muñoz. The band’s last state finals appearance was in 2016. According to ISSMA records, they came in ninth place for Class A. East’s last state finals appearance was in 2005, placing 10th for Class B.
“We try not to get too tied into ‘will we make state or not?’” Muñoz said, when asked about their chances this year. “What we want to focus on is having the best possible performance so we are in a position to continue our season. However, what I can say is these kids have been working extremely hard and are determined to build a tradition of excellence in our new program.”
