High school marching bands from around the region participating in Central States Marching Festival Oct. 7
Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017
MANHATTAN — The sound of marching bands will fill the air across the Kansas State University campus on Saturday, Oct. 7, for the Central States Marching Festival.
Billed as the premier marching band festival in Kansas, this year's event will feature 40 high school marching bands from Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma, said Frank Tracz, professor of music and director of bands at Kansas State University.
Participating bands have the opportunity to take part in clinics with members of the Kansas State University Marching Band staff and present a field performance that will be judged by a panel of nationally recognized march band authorities. The bands then receive individual clinics with members of the video critique panel after their field performances and obtain a rating of superior, excellent or good by class with accompanying awards. The critiques emphasize the positive aspects of each band's show. The categories used in judging include repertoire, performance, coordination, auxiliaries and music.
Band clinics will begin at 10 a.m. in the indoor football facility, Memorial Stadium and Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Field performances start at noon at Bill Snyder Family Stadium and will run throughout the day and evening, capping off with a performance by the Kansas State University Marching Band, the Pride of Wildcat Land. General admission to the Central States Marching Festival is $10, or $5 with a student ID.
A special guest at this year's festival will be BandDirector.com with Dave Knox. Judges include Michael Stewart, associate director of bands at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Larry Blocher, director of the School of Music at Troy University; Jim Oliver, retired band director from Kansas City; Phil Payne, chair of the music education division at Kansas State University's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance; David Montgomery, associate director of bands and director of the marching band at Western Michigan University; Hilary Santana, color guard coordinator with the Kansas State University Marching Band; and Brandon Adams, percussion graduate assistant with the Kansas State University Marching Band. This year's guest clinician will be Gavin Smith, director of bands at Reddy High School, Frisco, Texas.
The following bands are participating in this year's festival; a schedule of performance times is available at k-state.edu/band/festivals/csmf.html:
Northern Heights High School, Allen; Arkansas City High School, Arkansas City; Basehor-Linwood High School, Basehor; Chanute High School, Chanute; Derby High School, Derby; De Soto High School, De Soto; Dighton High School, Dighton; Dodge City High School, Dodge City; Eudora High School, Eudora; Garden City High School, Garden City; Goddard High School, Goddard; Halstead High School, Halstead; Hiawatha High School, Hiawatha; Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson; Independence High School, Independence; Junction City High School, Junction City; Turner Higher School, Kansas City; Lansing High School, Lansing; Leavenworth High School, Leavenworth; Louisburg High School, Louisburg; Lyons High School, Lyons; Maize High School, Maize; Manhattan High School, Manhattan; Marysville High School, Marysville; McPherson High School, McPherson.
Blue Valley North High School, Blue Valley Northwest High School, Shawnee Mission West High School and St. Thomas Aquinas High School, all in Overland Park; Rose Hill High School, Rose Hill; Salina South High School, Salina; Mill Valley High School and Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Shawnee; Shawnee Heights High School, Tecumseh; Seaman High School, Topeka; Valley Center High School, Valley Center; Wichita North High School, Wichita.
From out of state: Thomas Jefferson High School, Council Bluffs, Iowa; Lincoln Southwest High School, Lincoln, Nebraska; and Enid High School, Enid, Oklahoma.
