PHOTOS BY SARAH ANN JUMP/THE HERALD
The Forest Park Marching Rangers, above, along with the Southridge Marching Raiders, Jasper Marching Wildcats and Northeast Dubois Marching Jeeps, in order below, are ready to take the next step in the marching band postseason as they keep their eye on a state title.
The
Long March to State Begins Now
High school marching band season is in full swing across Indiana, and 173 ensembles are putting the final touches on their shows while preparing for the competitions that will write their 2019 legacy. The Indiana State School Music Association State Finals and ISSMA Scholastic Finals loom in the not-too-distant future. And if there’s one thing that can be said about the four Dubois County marching bands, it’s that they’ve all been there and done that. Many times. The Jasper Marching Wildcats have made it to the state championship every year since 1990. The Forest Park Marching Rangers haven’t missed since 2003. The Southridge Marching Raider Band barely missed the finals in 2019, but had made it each of the previous two seasons. The Northeast Dubois Marching Jeeps have qualified for the ISSMA Scholastic State three years in a row. Locally, three bands will perform in the ISSMA Open Class: Southridge and Forest Park in Open Class D, and Jasper in Open Class B. Like athletics, open classes A through D are determined by school size. The state championships for those classes will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Before that, though, bands must advance
through regional and semistate contests. The regional competitions separate the state’s bands into north and south divisions, and the top 10 from each class move on to the semistate round. That number is then cut in half, and the best 10 bands from each class earn a spot at the state finals. Northeast Dubois will compete in the Scholastic B Class, an alternative means of competition for programs whose directors opt out of the open classes. While the open classes use school enrollment to determine class placement, the scholastic classes use both school enrollment and band enrollment. The Scholastic Class is designed for bands with fewer resources than open class programs. A preliminary round for the scholastic classes will take place Saturday at Jerry Brewer Alumni Stadium in Jasper, and schools that earn a gold rating will advance to a finals contest at Lawrence Central High School on Saturday, Oct. 26. ISSMA also offers a noncompetitive festival class that is intended to give the groups feedback and evaluation based on their music quality and performance. No local bands compete in that division. Heritage Hills competes in Open Class C, but the band will not participate in an ISSMA regional competition this year. The group’s 2019 season has ended.
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2019 SECTION B