Star Valley High School’s Marching Braves emerged from the Wyoming State Marching Band Competition on Saturday, October 18 with caption awards in Color Guard and Marching, an ‘Excellent’ rating, and a silver medal in the 3A division.

The Marching Braves scored only .5 points behind the band from Cody High School in a rubric that could assign as many as 650 points, which, according to Sand, “is about as close to a tie as you can get.”

Defined this year as a competition as opposed to a festival, as it has been called for the last several decades, the event welcomed 22 bands from all divisions throughout Wyoming. Seventeen bands earned a rating of Excellent, while only four bands earned the coveted Superior rating. All bands that received “Superior” ratings were 4A schools. One band came away with a “Good” rating.

“It’s a wonderful event to showcase the marching arts with movement and making music in an expressive, creative way,” said Kurt Sand, SVHS Band Director, in an interview on the Weekday Wake-up. “I really enjoy the vibe there. Everybody knows how hard it is to get that many people moving like that and playing like that. It takes lots of work and lots of hours. There is a lot of mutual appreciation there and support and we really enjoy that event and we like to show ourselves off in a positive and quality way. We try to put our best effort out there.”

Preparation for the competition involves a summer camp, sectional and group work, rehearsal during class time and Wednesday evening practices once school begins. “It takes a bunch of time to get the repetition to where it’s exactly right,” said Sand. “We don’t practice until we get it right, we practice until we never get it wrong. That takes a lot of effort and a lot of work.”

The band, comprised of 81 students this season, was pleased with the prospect of vying for a state championship, which has not been offered to marching bands in Wyoming for several decades. “That was our goal from the beginning of camp, and, man, they just performed so well. We received caption awards, which is a special recognition for high achievement, in both our color guard and marching.”

Two judges scored bands for marching and maneuvering, while two different judges scored for music execution. Two additional judges specifically scored the color guard and one judge scored percussion. “You combine all of those scores together for your total ranking and score.”

Lindsay Kallgren, who serves as an assistant to Sand, sees this year’s experience as “incredibly rewarding…I could not be more proud of their hard work, teamwork, and dedication.” The band’s accomplishment “reflects their commitment and passion for excellence.”

With so many students involved, Sand recognized the role of parents and additional coaches, offering a “special thank you to marching band moms for their support. Thank you to Lindsey Kallgren and Harmony Jenkins for the crazy amount of work they have done to help this band and color guard be successful! I am very proud of the band,” said Sand. “We marched and played so well. Our Drum Majors, Molly Roberts and Jocelyn Burgess, as well as all the members of the leadership team, did an outstanding job for us this year!”