By Cara Martinez
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa Marching Band placed second in its division with a score of 85.6 and color guard got a score of 71 on Nov. 10 at Valencia High School. They also placed second at Savanna High School on Nov 12. with a score of 80.8.
This was the first competition of the season where the band performed its entire show, Trapped in Time, which consisted of the opener, ballade and the closer. This was also was their first time competing in a competition that took place during the school day.
“I don’t think everyone felt amazing about the performance, but we got to see that even though we were all tired, we could still put on amazing show,” Drum Major Emily Chase said.
Mira Costa was 3.2 points behind the first place school, West Ranch High School, and sweepstakes winner Hart High School. They also placed 0.9 points behind first place school, Santa Monica High. According to Band President Sean Syed, they were satisfied because they were comparable to some of the best bands in their division.
“I thought it was really good that at the end of the day, the judges thought we were comparable to our high school and the other high schools there,” Drum Major Adrian Yu said.
The marching band succeeded its goal, which was to qualify for championships. They are focusing on making the show as clean as possible and perfecting every detail. On Saturday they started polishing up the opener and they are focusing on touching up the ballade and closer this week.
“We were a little angry with the results because we expected to do a little better,” Syed said. “It happens and we know we have a week left until championships so we can do everything in our power to show the judges what we can do.”
According to Syed, the band improved since its previous competition by being more focused during rehearsals. The group also changed around some of their details in their show such as spinning to the left instead of the right in their opener.
click to see Valencia High School Band’s Website:
“I think our overall goal was to get into the evening block which was the last group of the day as 6th,” Flute Leader Elisse Friedman said. “We are in fifth right now.”
The marching band’s SCSBOA field championships will be held on Nov 19. at Warren High School in Downey. According to Friedman, the band’s overall cumulative score gives them their placement for championships. The bands are placed into time blocks from lowest to highest score. Costa is in the second out of three blocks.
click to see Savanna’s band website:
“It’s going to be very interesting to see how we go head to head with all of the other bands that are competing that day,” Friedman said. “I think we have a good shot at placing in the top five.”
click to see costa’s band website:
In preparation for champs, the band is working on cleaning their show and going back through and adding more visuals, creating more complexity and making sure that they are completing all of their musical and visual phrases well.
“Performing is not just about the placement, it’s also about the feelings that we get from performing our show and being able to do it with all of our friends,” Friedman said. “This is what we are after in this competition.”
Leave a Reply