The Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) Marching Band Festival is an event featuring a compilation of high school bands performing their halftime show. After the bands execute their performance, they receive a score from three judges with the lowest score being five, and the highest being one.
While the Marching Band Festival is full of excitement and fun, each band needs preparation to make their performance spectacular to the judges and the audience.
Bryan Mangiavellano, who has been directing the Northwest Marching Mounties for over a decade, explains the preparations needed along with the struggles and successes that come with being a Host/Band Director for MSBOA.
“As hosts, we need to communicate with all the visiting bands and make sure we have workers ready in all areas,” said Mangiavellano .
After all the high school bands perform, the marching band that hosts the event takes the field last. The Marching Mounties have received the highest score possible each year since the festival was created. Mangiavellano sees the judge’s scores as a representation and an acknowledgment of the hard work that the students have put into the marching band season, practicing for an hour and a half every Monday and Thursday after school.
Despite that, the score is not the most important part of the festival. Mangiavellano explains how he sees success past the score.
“Success looks like a Band Program (students, parents, alumni, supporters) gathering and celebrating the hard work of the current students and remembering the hard work that they put in when they were younger,” said Mangiavellano.
Mangiavellano sees MSBOA, not just as a performance, but as a significant piece of the culture of the band.
Catherine Goodwin, a saxophone player for the Marching Mounties, has participated in the MSBOA Festival for three years. She explains that there is minimal stress that comes with preparing for the band’s performance. For instance, students have to memorize music, uniforms, and call times. Regardless, the emotions she feels most are excitement and nervousness.
According to Goodwin, preparation extends beyond Monday and Thursday rehearsals.
“As far as the season goes, MSBOA is the end goal. I think of it as everything we are working for. So every practice, football game, and exhibition is preparation for MSBOA,” Goodwin said.
The band tackles different challenges with music and marching each year, but that does not stop Northwest or the other high school marching bands from achieving a successful performance at the festival.
Freshman Audi Powell is new to the MSBOA Festival experience and plays clarinet for the Marching Mounties. She explains her thoughts and feelings about MSBOA from a freshman perspective.
“It is definitely scary for the first time because you are just nervous and do not know what to expect,” said Powell.
Besides the restlessness there is excitement while preparing to experience something new.
Powell explains that there is also pressure to learn and memorize new music to prepare as best she can for the band. She does her best to show up at all the after-school rehearsals she can attend and annotates her sheet music to better understand what she is playing.
According to Sandra Long, from the National Environmental Health Association, stress can be good or bad, depending on where it stems.
“As we all know, some stress is good and some is, well, not so good or positive and is negative stress,” said Long.
Long explains how productive stress entails learning something new and achieving a goal. Comparably, MSBOA provides a healthy amount of stress from learning and improving marching drills and music. Additionally, achieving a goal like having a fun performance for MSBOA offers relief from the stress that stems from rehearsals and past performances.
The Northwest Marching Band, including other high school band participants in the festival, experienced minor strain while doing the groundwork for MSBOA. While that stress is present, the fun and excitement that the band and audience feel makes the band’s endeavor worth it. Preparations for the festival extend beyond designated rehearsals to students’ hard work and effort and communication between high schools across the district.
