Local high school marching band garners honors and community pride.

By Bethany BROWN

The Crescenta Valley High School marching band earned a first-place spot at the Tustin Tiller Days Parade on Oct. 2 after competing against 10 other Southern California high schools and initially tying with one other school for the win.

Mathew Schick, CVHS’ director of instrumental music, said bands’ parade performances are judged in three different categories: marching, showmanship and music.

Marching encompasses step coordination and group choreography while music focuses on musical difficulty and how well the individual instruments are played in unison. Showmanship regards a summary of everything together, with emphasis on how the group presents itself and the overall visual experience provided to the audience.

“If two bands are tied, they always go with the music score to break the tie and our music score was considerably higher than the other band,” Schick said. “The kids did such a great job; I’m very proud of them.”

On Oct. 9, the band came in second to a consecutive-year grand champion band at the Mayfair CSBC (California State Band Championship) Field Tournament. Drum major Joshua Lee earned first-place among drum majors from all schools setting the record for the highest score in CVHS history. Color guard ranked fourth place.

“We were fortunate to perform well against a lot of good bands,” Schick said. “I’m hoping that this strong start, both at the parade and field competition, propels the kids.”

Crescenta Valley Instrumental Music Foundation board member Leila Bell said CVHS focuses heavily on field show performance, and participates in only one parade competition a year. She has two children of her own in the music program and attended both events as a spectator.

“Standing there at the parade before they announced that CV won and looking over at these kids, many of whom have never competed – the fact that they excelled in this first competition and then to see their faces light up when they found out they won was really awesome,” Bell said. “We were all tearing up.”

Bell said nearly half of the band had never marched, competed or even put on a uniform before the parade because the pandemic forced their absence from campus for over a year. She recalled listening to her son stomping in his bedroom while pretending to march with the band on Zoom as he learned remotely.

Schick noted that the band is still in the process of building their show after returning to campus. They have performed only two of their songs and have four more to go but he’s confident that the kids will do even better moving forward.

“My hope for the kids is for them to just have the confidence, the enjoyment of performing and the ability to refine what they know to go to the next level with their precision and musicality,” Schick said.

“The emphasis is not on taking home the big trophy, but on just continuing to grow and do the best that they can, working together and having fun,” Bell said.

The Falcons will next be performing at Griffith Park Travel Town on Oct. 17 at noon and St. George’s Church in La Cañada on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.

The band will be closing out the month with its first ever “Spooktacular” concert on Saturday, Oct. 30 held outdoors on the CVHS campus. Food, a silent auction and a “BOO-tique” will be available from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. providing further entertainment in addition to the live music.