On Saturday, Nov. 11, a curtain fell on the marching season for the Sierra Pacific Marching Band and Color Guard.
The band and color guard had their last marching competition of the year on Nov. 11 at Visalia’s Golden West High School. Prior to championships, it performed at Fresno State, Orange Cove High School and Hanford High School.
This performance, the band’s finale, was for the California State Band Championships. At the end of the day, the band came out with eighth place and the color guard in first. Throughout the season, the band has been led by director Jeff Detlefsen and the two drum majors, Bradyen Wise and Alijah Whiting.
During the marching competition, there are multiple criteria for judging a band’s performance, which include two scores for the quality of the music (individually and collectively), two scores for visual effect (also individually and collectively), general effect, percussion and color guard. Each of these categories has its own judge.
Detlefsen said of the championships, “I am happy with how the kids performed at the final performance, however not happy with the judging outcome. But in our sport, judging is all subjective, so sometimes that happens where a judge just doesn’t like your show at the end.”
Since the school year began, the band had been working on their marching show, an almost half-a-year project titled “Jumanji” after the film franchise of the same name. The show featured three acts centered around different aspects of the Jumanji game from the films.
The show’s theme was chosen before summer break by the band council, and a junior, Andrew Pelton, was commissioned to write the field show by arranging excerpts of the original score for the marching band.
“It was really special getting to hear my music for the first time during band camp,” Pelton said, recalling earlier that year during the band’s first practices.
The show was also filled with different visuals to enhance the show’s story. Visual effects included a giant Jumanji board about twenty feet high and hobby horses with heads of different safari animals to represent the stampede (controlled by the color guard).
The color guard also played a large role in the visuals. They had won 1st place in several other shows previously, including last year’s production.
Reviewing the multiple competitions, Detlefsen feels that the season was generally a very successful one. Detlefsen remarks, “Overall, I was very impressed with how well the group did throughout the season competing in 4A.”
Pelton, too, was happy with the turnout of the season.
“Overall, the season went really well. I was super happy with how my music turned out on the field,” he said.
At the end of the season, the gears have shifted towards concert season next semester. Marching season will come again next year, in the Fall Semester of 2024.
When talking about other potential marching shows, Peloton said, “In the future, I would love to write a show inspired by Pink Floyd’s music. However, I would be excited to write any show if given the opportunity again.”
