MRDs host Parade of Champions

Over 40 high school marching bands from across area compete in event

Chris Labzda / senior photographer The Marching Royal Dukes perform during the Parade of Champions Saturday at Zane Showker Field at Brigeforth Stadium.

Over 40 high school marching bands performed at the annual Parade of Champions marching band competition at Zane Showker Field at Bridgeforth Stadium Saturday.

Sponsored by the Marching Royal Dukes, the competition was an all-day event that allowed local, as well as distant, high schools to display their talents in return for awards and recognition. The bands were judged by specified criteria in areas such as music execution, marching and maneuvering, general music effect, auxiliary (better known as color guard), percussion and overall general effect. 

Each band performed one show to flaunt its abilities. The objective of POC was "to have fine high school bands come to JMU and to see the Marching Royal Dukes," according to Pat Rooney, JMU director of bands.

Cody Kesling, a trumpet player for Pulaski County High School's Golden Cougars Marching Band, said, "I am excited to go out there, perform in front of everyone, see the band and perform on the turf."

In the 26-year history of POC, recruitment efforts have been helped for both JMU and the Marching Royal Dukes. According to Brantley Douglas, JMU's assistant director of bands, "Students get to visit the campus, and also get to see the MRDs. In the past, we have had bands from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Michigan."

Sarah Quin, a sousaphone player for Loudoun Valley High School, said, "I've considered coming here after being here to perform."

MRD members said they enjoy the competition as well. "I think that [POC] is a great way to [recruit new members]," said freshman David Stiefel, an MRD trombone player. "It also shows how good we are, and when you are surrounded by people like you, you tend to feel more comfortable and enthusiastic."
The first contest in Virginia was held in 1978 as part of the Marching Bands of America Eastern Regional Championship. By 1983, the contest was run by JMU and the name changed to the present POC, according to Douglas.

The MRDs, who do not compete, usually do exhibitions for high school marching band competitions aside from JMU home games. Their main showcase, however, is in their own stadium for POC.

For the competition, each band is placed into one of four categories, or classes, depending on how many performers are in the band. The classifications are: A for bands with less than 50 members; AA for bands with 51 to 75 members; AAA for bands with 76 to 99 members; and AAA for bands with over 100 members. 

To give the judges time to finalize scores, the MRDs perform an exhibition show before each awards ceremony — one for the A and AA awards at 3:30 p.m. and one for the AAA and AAAA awards at 9:15 p.m.

Some bands have made attendance at the JMU competition a tradition, while some groups only have competed at POC for the first time.

"This is our first year here [for POC]," said Jamie Lawson, the band director of Pulaski Country. "It is a very different experience for us. We come from a rural area where there are not many people in our class — usually there are like two or three [in our class in our area]."

The judges for POC are "top-rated from around the country," Rooney said. There are different judges to each individual section of adjudication that were stationed around the field and in the stadium's press box.

The MRDs gathered cheers and screams from high school band members as the nearly 400-member band and over 30-member color guard performed — once in the afternoon and twice in the evening. 

The MRDs' evening show was the main event of the day, which featured two performances back-to-back. The Dukettes, JMU's dance team , also made two guest appearances.