The Crescenta Valley High School marching band and color guard competed in competitions earlier this year that showcased the strengths of each participant.

The Winter Guard Association of Southern California held virtual portions of its competition in which one solo and one small ensemble piece was presented each month between February and May. One of the submitted pieces was a presentation for the final championship solo competition by junior Thalia Miller.

“She worked for several weeks, learning and detailing the solo piece,” said Joey Leon, color guard coach. “Between working on basics and training with the rest of the team, we had limited time to work on the solo.” 

There were 66 total entries for the solo championship competition; this was Miller’s one and only submission.

“She received lots of positive feedback from the judge and was commended on a beautiful solo performance,” said Leon.

Miller placed second in the competition.

The Peacocks American Drum Major Competitions (ADMC) is a non-profit organization that strives to provide a unique competitive setting for drum majors from all across California, namely in parade and field conducting. CVHS student Kimberly Blood trained all the drum majors during this past school year in preparation for the ADMC competition.

“I am extremely proud of her since she couldn’t participate in the ‘traditional’ drum major activities due to COVID-19,” said Mathew Schick, director, CVHS Instrumental Music Dept. “She could have easily sat this year out and hid, but she stepped it up and performed her role amazingly well.” 

Schick went on to say that Blood met with the prospective drum majors virtually and later in person at least two times a month during the spring semester training them in all areas of what it takes to be a drum major (conducting, spinning and leadership).

“At a normal competition, the competitor shows off their skills while the judges walk around them and speak into a tape recorder about what they liked or what the competitor could improve on,” said Joshua Lee who will take over the reins from Blood, who recently graduated. “The competitors are scored based on categories (for example, showmanship, uniform appearance, cleanliness, and creativity) adding up to a score out of 100. Finally, the competitors are ranked by scores in divisions, and awarded with trophies based on placements. Competitors are also given the opportunity to meet drum majors from other schools, connect, and learn new things from each other.” 

Since the last two seasons were virtual due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the competitors were asked to send in individual videos to ADMC to be judged the next day. Filming had to be done on a certain day to verify that competitors would be participating in specific competitions.

“The judges would play our videos on speakers while commenting, so we could hear at which points in the video they made specific comments,” Lee said. “After scoring and ranking competitors in each division, an email would be sent out announcing placements and scores.”

This year, there were five drum majors from Crescenta Valley High School competing They were Lucy Kiefer, Chloe Roh, Daniel Duaybis, Hanon Nakamura and Lee. Three of the five competed in every competition offered. Duaybis, Nakamura and Lee each won state championship awards in May (parade majors and apprentice, and field conducting majors and apprentice). Duaybis placed second in apprentice parade, Lee placed first in majors parade and field conducting and Nakamura placed first in apprentice field conducting.

“Having multiple drum majors from the same school is an unusual occurrence,” Lee said. “We are slowly making CV a widely known and respected name in the drum major community.”