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Gearing up for Pursuit

19 high school marching bands to compete at the annual Pursuit of Excellence

Photo by Deb Gau Members of the Marshall Tiger marching band rehearsed their show earlier this week in preparation for the Pursuit of Excellence competition on Saturday.

MARSHALL — For more than two decades, Pursuit of Excellence has been a favorite competition of marching bands from around the region.

The 22nd annual Pursuit of Excellence marching band competition is Saturday at the Regional Event Center at Southwest Minnesota State University. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., and the competition starts at 5:30 p.m.

This year’s event is bringing 19 bands from Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota. The Marshall Tiger marching band and the SMSU pep band are in exhibition.

Marshall High School band director Wayne Ivers said a couple of marching bands, Andover and Madison, S.D., are returning to the competition after a few years away.

“The bulk have been here most of the time,” Ivers said.

Preparing for Pursuit begins when marching band season starts, said MHS senior Alexa Doerr, who plays the mellophone. The students do a band camp for two weeks, working on their show for eight hours a day. During the season, the marching band practices a couple of hours every day during the school week. Students also practice on their own, Doerr said.

“There’s improvement going on all the time,” Doerr said.

MHS senior Alexa Amundson, who plays alto sax, said Pursuit is definitely the band’s most rigorous competition.

“We put the most work into it,” she said.

What makes Pursuit different, Ivers said, are the clinics that are held during the day. Students get to interact with the judges and get feedback. Amundson said the clinicians will listen to the band’s sound and see what it can improve for the night’s performance on the field.

“It really is a lot of work,” she said.

Clinics are beneficial for the students because they hear feedback from the judges right away, Ivers said.

“They hear it from the person instead of the tape,” Ivers said. “It makes a huge difference.”

“I really believe the bands get a lot of help from the clinics,” Ivers added.

Ivers said he puts a call out for judges for Pursuit. He may get recommendations, he said, as they’re looking for ones who are good working with kids one-on-one. Mainly it’s been word-of-mouth, he said. He may hear from possible judges/clinicians who love the sound of Pursuit’s format and want to be put on the mailing list for the following year. Ivers said 10 judges will be at Pursuit this year.

Ivers said bands look forward to taking part in Pursuit.

“The competing is a huge thing for them,” Ivers said, showing what you can do and being proud of the product.

Ivers said he’ll hear from other bands that what Pursuit has to offer is what brings them to Marshall every year.

For the field competition, the bands are judged on music, visuals, color guard and percussion.

This season, there’s 178 MHS students in marching band, and their show is titled “Machina.” It’s a “man versus machine” theme, Ivers said.

Amundson said the season’s been progressing for the Marshall Tiger marching band. It’s a young band, she said.

“We’re definitely getting to a good point, and we’re getting competitively better,” she said.

“We’re always changing stuff, so there’s always something new,” Doerr added. Change always ends up being a good thing, she said, as it makes the band better. “We see different things that can be improved.”

Amundson and Doerr said Pursuit is a big event for the Marshall community.

“It’s definitely something our city likes to take part in,” Amundson said about Pursuit.

“I think it’s a really nice way to shed light on the music program in Marshall,” Doerr said. “It brings a huge audience. You see people everywhere.”

It’s also fun for those in Marshall’s marching band, Doerr said. They get to show their progress at the end of the day.

“We get to show what we’re made of,” Doerr said.

FIELD COMPETITION

All classes are determined by the total number of Winds and Percussion.

A competing band may request to move up a class but not down.

Competition order determined by previous years score. New bands this year compete first in class.

Gates open at 4:30

5:25 p.m. National Anthem

Gold Class (1-60 Winds and Percussion)

5:30 p.m. Andover HS, Andover

5:45 p.m. Bishop Heelan HS, Sioux City, Iowa

6 p.m. Estherville Lincoln Central HS, Estherville, Iowa

6:15 p.m. Harrisburg HS, Harrisburg, S.D.

6:30 p.m. Sheldon HS, Sheldon, Iowa

6:45 p.m. Anoka HS, Anoka

7 p.m. Hastings HS, Hastings

Crimson Class (70-90 Winds and Percussion)

7:15 p.m. Madison HS, Madison, S.D.

7:30 p.m. Huron HS, Huron, S.D.

7:45 p.m. West Lyon HS, Inwood, Iowa

8 p.m. Sibley Ocheyedan HS, Sibley, Iowa

8:15 p.m. Mitchell HS, Mitchell, S.D.

Exhibition

8:30 p.m. SMSU Mustang Pep Band

8:45 p.m. Gold Class and Crimson Class awards

Navy Class (91-130 Winds and Percussion)

8:55 p.m. Central HS, Aberdeen, S.D.

9:10 p.m. O’Gorman HS, Sioux Falls, S.D.

9:25 p.m. Brookings HS, Brookings, S.D.

9:40 p.m. MOC Floyd Valley HS, Orange City, Iowa

9:55 p.m. Brandon Valley HS, Brandon, S.D.

10:10 p.m. Roosevelt HS, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Ivory Class (131+ Winds and Percussion)

10:25 p.m. Lincoln HS, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Judged exhibition

10:40 p.m. Marshall HS, Marshall

10:55 p.m. Navy Class and Ivory Class awards

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