Marching To The Beat Bands Blow Their Horns At Albi For Regional Competition.

Hundreds upon hundreds of high school students in uniform will take the field at Joe Albi Stadium on Saturday. Most started preparing for this event in training camps one or two weeks before school started.

In September, they were meeting before school, after school and even on Saturdays. They have been training their minds and bodies hard because they will be playing their hearts out this Saturday to compete for trophies in A, AA and AAA divisions.

Are we talking about football? Baseball? Soccer? Heck, no! For those wimpy activities, turn to the Sports section. This is IN Life. We’re talking about challenging arts for tough people. We are talking about:

MARCHING BANDS - music for hard bodies.

Music and sports do invite comparison. They are both real-time activities that demand the utmost in mental and physical cross-training. “I missed a note. Can everybody stop the music and go back to measure 12 so I can try again” sounds as ridiculous to a musician as “Sorry, coach. Stop the game so we can try that passing play again. I promise I’ll catch it this time” does to people of pigskin.

Both activities provide educational essentials for young minds and bodies: teamwork, discipline and dedication to high standards along with the mental/physical integration. Plus you get to wear cool uniforms.

For Saturday’s competition, the bands will have between seven and 11 minutes to perform their routines, with penalties for going too short or too long. They will be judged for musical ensemble and individuals, overall musical effect, percussion, visuals and color guard.

Eight adjudicators from all over Washington and California will officiate. National standards are used and they are tough. The judges make observations up close on the field and from the top of the stands, so they don’t miss much. Sixty percent of the score is based on the music and 40 percent on marching.

The marching style for most of the groups is derived from the drum and bugle corps style, which really began to catch on about 20 years ago. Corps-style marching, more of a glide step than the old chair step, makes it easier to play instruments and the visual effect on the field is smoother.

The routines require discipline, concentration and precision. One trombone player making a wrong turn, taking an extra step or even being out of alignment can cause a mishap on the field.

The Spokane Lilac Festival Championships began life in 1979 as a local band competition sponsored by University High School. By 1991, the cost and burden of putting on the competition proved overwhelming. In 1993 the Lilac Festival Association agreed to act as the primary sponsor in reviving the competition so kids would have this local opportunity.

About 2,000 students from regional high schools will participate this year. Cheney, East Valley, Clarkston, Mead, Wenatchee, Kennewick, Shadle Park, North Central, Rogers, Ferris, University, West Valley, Centennial High from Meridian, Idaho, and Kamiakin High from Kennewick will all be putting their best feet forward.

Dave Wetherred, in his ninth year as band director at Ferris, says the bands are always learning from each other at these competitions and incorporating ideas into their own shows. He fields 250 students, 38 in the drill team and the rest are musicians. His show for this year is entitled “Raindrops on Roses” and features selections from “The Sound of Music.”

Wetherred and his band, who have been selected to march in the Rose Bowl Parade this year, have done well at these competitions. “It’s a competition against ourselves,” he says. “We know where we would like to score, and we are trying to get in the highest boxes on the score sheet.”

There will be trophies and prizes, and some kids will still want the symbol of victory. But most will learn eventually that challenging yourself is the big victory. And marching bands provide that challenge.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT The Spokane Lilac Festival Pacific Northwest Marching Band Championships will be Saturday at Joe Albi Stadium. Preliminary competition runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and finals are 6-10 p.m. Tickets, available at the stadium, are, for adults, $5 for preliminaries or finals, $8 for both; for students and seniors, $4 for prelims or finals, $6 for both.