Tournament season underway for marching band
By Ashley Shah
The Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) Falcon Corps and Color Guard marching band is back for another year of great music and performances.
The marching band has about 80 students in its ranks this year.
“We compete in the 4A division for tournaments. The 4A division includes bands that range from 71 to 100 students,” music director Russell Shedd said.
The first tournament of the season took place on Oct. 15 at Escondido High School.
Their next tournament will be the Falcon Invitational, which will take place on Nov. 1 in the SRHS football stadium.
“The Falcon Invitational is a tournament that we host for the bands in our area. This year, we anticipate about 18 bands. This will be the largest tournament in San Diego County this season,” Shedd said.
The Falcon Invitational takes about six months to prepare for and requires full support from the community.
“It takes us months to plan the invitational, but we really get into the weeds of planning about a month before. We have to coordinate all of the bands, the food vendors, the equipment and much more,” Shedd said. “This is the one day that we ask everyone to show up for. We need about 75 to100 volunteers to make this happen.”
The Falcon Invitational not only takes a lot of preparation and support, it is also the biggest fundraiser of the season for the SRHS music program. The event is fully open to the public.
“It is a long day, but I always look forward to it. It is nice to see the other bands and directors, especially in our stadium,” Shedd said.
Their last tournament before the division finals will take place on Nov. 8 at Great Oak High School.
On Nov. 15, the Falcon Corps and Color Guard will compete in the Southern California division finals.
“We will compete against the 4A bands in Southern California. There are about 30 bands in our division. If we do well enough in this tournament, then we will be able to advance to the State finals,” Shedd said.
The State finals take place in Orange County on Nov. 22.
“My goal each year is to make State finals. We have done it every year for the past eight to nine years,” Shedd said.
Last year, there were about 50 bands in total at State finals. The SRHS marching band placed fourth in the 4A division, and eighth overall at State finals.
“Our students work so hard every year to make it to State finals. We always just want to do better than we did the previous year,” he said.
The SRHS music program, which includes the marching band, orchestra and band, relies heavily on fundraisers and donations.
“Our biggest challenge every year is funding. We are so grateful for any type of donation, whether it is a dollar, or a new instrument. We do match the donations given by parents and businesses,” Shedd said.
There will be a donation drive at the beginning of the new year.
“This donation drive helps to fund the winterguard and winter percussion programs,” Shedd said.
In addition to donations, the music program hosts three concerts throughout the year as a way to raise funds.
“We always have our holiday concert at the beginning of December. We have a spring concert in early March. Our last concert of the school year is at the beginning of May, and contains music based on literature,” Shedd said.
The music program at SRHS includes a little more than 200 students.
“We are hoping to see a lot of the community to support our concerts and marching band this year. We have one of the biggest music programs. Our students perform at such a high level that you wouldn’t even realize that these are high schoolers. It is such a treat to have a great program in our community,” Shedd said.
For more information, visit www.srhsmusic.com.