CHS to don new uniforms at festival

COLUMBUS - The Columbus High School band, sporting their new uniforms for the first time, will host 25 area marching bands for the 33rd Annual Columbus Marching Festival.

The parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday followed by a field competition beginning at 12:15 p.m. at Pawnee Park's Memorial Stadium. Admission to the field show at the stadium is $5 for adults and $3 for students K-12. Proceeds from the event support the Columbus High School band.

Of the 25 bands participating in this year's festival, 23 will participate in the parade event and 20 in the field competition.

The event draws bands from throughout the area, including Twin River, David City, David City Aquinas, Omaha and Lincoln.

“This year's parade will begin at the corner of 31st Avenue and will run along 13th Street to 24th Avenue. Bands will be parking and warming up along 12th Street,” said Columbus High School Band Director Jeff Peabody. “It is requested that people avoid that area, if possible. Although the event is primarily for high school bands, we are pleased to have the York Middle School band, directed by Curtis Forsch, participating in this year's parade.”

Peabody said the 136-member Discoverer Marching Band participates in both the parade and field competition, but as the event host it does not enter the competition.

The Discoverer Marching Band will perform an original work for field competition titled Chronometry written by Key Poulan.

“This is a significant departure from the previous shows performed by CHS in that the music was specifically written with the field show in mind,” Peabody said. “This allows the music to flow smoother from form to form and provides more opportunities for higher scores from the judges. The three songs that make Chronometry are: Grandfather Clock, which utilizes the familiar Westminster chimes common to most clocks of this style. Hourglass, which combines quick moving movements with a lush ballad. And Stopwatch, which is a frantic, non-stop, powerful closer.”

Peabody explained that the field show is judged by three judges on the field and five in the press box. The on-field judges score the percussion, individual marching and individual music. The judges in the press box score color guard, ensemble marching, ensemble music and visual and music effects.

“Most of the judges score in very specific areas, however, the effect judges are scoring areas related to how the audience is affected by the performance,” Peabody said. “Trophies are awarded to the first and second place bands in five different classes for the parade. Bands can earn a plaque for earning a rating of superior on the field competition. Trophies also are awarded to the outstanding color guard, and the outstanding percussion along with a sweepstakes trophy for the highest scoring band of the day.”

This is Peabody's first year as the “Band Guy” for CHS. He served the school as the assistant director for the past three years.

“This event is a tremendous benefit for the community, area bands and for the individual participants,” he said. “The community gets an opportunity to see 25 wonderful bands perform both downtown and on Memorial Field at Pawnee Park. The area bands get an early opportunity to receive a progress report on how their show is going as they prepare for the state competition Oct. 20. And the individual students are a part of memory making at it's best.

“Countless hours are spent preparing to host all of these young men and women and helping to make their experience a positive one,” Peabody said. I would like to personally thank the members of the band boosters and - Go, Discoverers!”