KAYSVILLE -- More than 3,000 students from 34 schools from Utah, Idaho and Nevada competed in the Davis Cup Invitational Marching Band Competition, one of the longest-running marching band competitions in state history.
Ogden High School walked away with all of the top honors for the 1A division at Tuesday's competition, including the extra caption awards for music, visual presentation, percussion and color guard performances.
The Davis High marching band hoped to unseat American Fork, a three-year winner of the Davis Cup.
Because Davis High had just beaten American Fork in last week's BYU high school marching band competition, it had high hopes.
But it wasn't meant to be, as American Fork narrowly edged Davis High in the 5A Division.
"There is really only one band we have to beat, and that is for us to do better than we did before," said Steven Hendricks, band director for Davis High School.
"It's a wonderful activity, because the kids learn how to work as part of a team, so I look at what is going to happen as a result of working toward something at this level of excellence, and the results of the show are way down the list."
Andrew Alsup, a senior and Ogden High drum major, called the experience "freakin' awesome."
"It's pretty cool because I feel like our band doesn't get recognized very well, since Ogden is such a big city," said Andrew, who practices with his band six hours a week.
Bands are judged on musicality, visual effects, percussion and auxiliary performance.
The Davis High School band spends nine to 10 hours a week perfecting its program.
For junior Daniel Gemperline, who plays the mellophone, each time he is on the field, he feels like he is a part of something big.
"I do this because it makes me feel important, and since it involves music, I'm not wasting my time," he said.
For Kelsey Jepperson, a senior playing sousaphone with the Davis High band, the experience is one she is going to miss terribly after she graduates.
"It is an indescribable feeling to be so locked into the music with the band on the field and then to hear the cheering of the crowd," she said.
Marching band competitions are not without their own dangers.
For one high school at the competition, one misstep by a bass drummer meant colliding with the drummer next to him and ultimately causing the entire drum line to fall.
They all managed to get up, get their drums back on and back to moving in formation relatively quickly.
At the end of the night, though, the sousaphone player from the Davis High band summed up the event by saying, "It's all for the love of the game pretty much," Kelsey said.
"It's not all about beating the bands."
Other Top of Utah bands in the competition were from Weber, Fremont, Roy, Bear River and Viewmont high schools.
Comments