Marching Band

Marching band evolved from military bands and parade bands. Everyone moved, and all instruments were carried. As recently as the early 1980s, bands and drum corps still carried bells, xylophones, and even timpani (1 per player) on and off the field. As field pageantry became more theatrical and moved beyond traditional Sousa march music, composers and arrangers liked the idea of using more orchestral percussion instruments. Thankfully, they started parking the large instruments on the front sideline, to contribute to the musical score, but not necessarily be a big part of the visual production… like a ‘pit orchestra’ in music theatre. [...]

Each band has a scheduled time slot. We have 15 minutes to get on, perform, and get off. That provides some flexibility as to how much of that time is actually performing time. Some bands used to try to play 13 minutes of music. Most bands these days opt for less than 10 minutes of music: to give more time to enter and exit the field, and to have less material to learn and clean. In some competitive circuits, there may be a minimum performing time (don’t know if there is one for ABODA). These timing rules are enforced in the [...]

The adjudicators are usually band directors and other marching band staff members from around the community. There are some smart rules about not judging groups with which a judge may be affiliated, to avoid conflicts of interest. For bigger events, like the State Festival and State Championship, ABODA will fly in judges from other states. Sometimes we get some relative celebrities. For example, one of the most successful and well-known percussion instructors in the country, Ralph Hardimon, has been the percussion judge at the State Championship in recent years. ABODA events have 6 judges: Music (2 judges) – They assess the quality [...]

In ABODA events, the Divisions are based on the size of your band, by the total number of students performing on the field. The current breakdown has bands with greater than 110 performers in Division I. Bands with 109 and under members are in Division II. Division III is for bands with less than 80 members. Bands with less than 60 members are in Division IV.

Caption Awards are awarded to the band (or bands) that presented an outstanding performance in a specific category. Essentially, each judge can select a band or bands that was the most outstanding for the category which they were judging (see below for judges and captions). For example, a Music Judge can choose which band had the best Music performance of the event. They can award a few Caption Awards (often just called ‘Captions’), or none at all, at their discretion. There is no direct correlation to the score from that judge. At an early-season show, a band may receive ‘Good’ scores, [...]

In a Festival-format event, Ratings are given to each performance: Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, and Superior. These ratings are based on a rubric that represents a perfect performance. Judges assess rigorously against that high standard. It may seem disappointing to get a low rating in the early season, but it should be expected. As the performance becomes more polished and precise, the ratings should reflect that. A rating of ‘Good’ may look like the equivalent of a ‘C’ grade, but at an early point in the season, this only tells us that there are a lot of aspects to the show [...]

For many years, ABODA held music “Festivals,” meaning there wasn’t “competition.” Each band was “Rated,” with the rating being based on a numerical score. Ratings were announced, but scores were meant to be private, for the directors. There was no “winner” at a Festival. Several bands could receive the same Rating. A few years ago, ABODA agreed to start including “Competitions.” In these events, the scores are announced, and “Rankings” are announced: 1st place, 2nd place, etc. The events that we are attending this season often have two portions: Rated Festival performances, then Ranked Competition performances.

AzMBA stands for Arizona Marching Band Association, or AzMBA. AzMBA is another organization that presents competitions and festivals in Arizona.

ABODA (the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association) is a professional organization that oversees music events. It is not the only one in Arizona, but it is the biggest and most established. It is comprised of directors from all over Arizona.