The month of October has been very eventful for all of the sports teams at Claremont High School (CHS), and the marching band was no exception. Performing their new show at football games has given halftime a fun and exciting reason to stay seated. Though the home games have seemed to end, the Marching Wolfpack still has a lot to do and even has their eyes set on a championship qualification!
The Marching Wolfpack participates in their own kinds of competitions against other bands, and they are a force to be reckoned with! Marching band competitions are events where 10 to 35 marching bands present their field shows (halftime shows), which are then graded by judges in multiple specialties, including General Music, Musical Effect, Percussion, Auxiliary, and General Effect. The cumulative grade ranges from zero to 100, and bands are ranked based on their score. Bands are assigned to one of six divisions based on the total number of woodwind, brass, and percussion performers, with A being the smallest bands and AAAAAA being the largest.
In mid-October, the band traveled up to Moorpark High School to compete against other bands in the Southern California area. There, they secured a first-place Auxiliary (Color Guard) in the AAAA band division and the overall first place for the same category. They received a score of 72.5, scoring 16.1 points better than the month prior at their home tournament at CHS.
This is no surprise to the marching Wolfpack coming off one of the best seasons in their history, returning to the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) Field Show Championships for the first time in over twenty years, and receiving their highest score at that event ever. They secured fourth place out of the 12 best bands in the AAA Division and received a score of 81.2, missing third place by a mere 0.4 points. They also won the Los Altos A-AAA Division Sweepstakes and received the High General Effect and High Auxiliary awards. Additionally, they won third place percussion out of 18 bands there.
All in all, coming off an excellent season, the future is bright for the CHS Marching Wolfpack after securing an early-season win. They are looking forward to receiving even higher scores and top three finishes later on in their season. Hopefully, the Marching Wolfpack continues to score high and place well, continuing Claremont’s “Tradition of Excellence.”
