On September 21, the marching band performed at the US Band competition at Century High School. Many schools from all over Maryland came together to compete. The theme of this year’s program revolves around the first moon landing:  the 50th anniversary is this year.

The marching band captures the theme of the first moon landing very well. The color guard wears galaxy makeup to represent the space theme. While the band performs, the Apollo 11 spaceship can be seen in the background along with the moon, American flag, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

“This performance was definitely a struggle because it was eight minutes long. It was very hot and hard to march on the grass, but we pushed through,” said sophomore Emily Jonas.

Each high school can host a band competition at their home high school as well as go to other competitions to support other high schools in the area. The home high school will perform last and must be courteous and respectful to the opposing schools. Century High hosted the competition on the 21, and Linganore will be hosting later on in the band season.

“It was definitely a more stressful performance because we hadn’t rehearsed all three movements a lot, but we pulled it off. I think we did pretty well for it being the first time we put the third movement on the field. We didn’t have much practice with the whole thing but it was an amazing performance,” said sophomore Mary Bailey.

The band must include many different elements that they are judged on at each competition. They have to sound strong, march in formation, and include visual elements that relate to the theme of their season.

Eyes are everywhere when they perform. “There are judges in the press boxes to judge our overall performance. And field judges that walk around as you march to take a closer look at performance and sound,” said sophomore Daniela Gerardi.

Linganore’s marching band  was the biggest group at this competition. There were five divisions. Linganore was placed in Division 5 and won by default because they were the biggest school competing  with a final score of 72.5 out of 100. This is a good score for their first time performing their whole routine live. 

“This weekend was the first time we put our third and final movement into the show, and, with that considered, I feel like we did a wonderful job, there are a few fundamentals that could be touched up, marching, sound performance, etc. but overall our performance turned out great,” said junior drum major Mackenzie Berry. 

The marching band continues to refine their show. Follow them to their next competition at Old Mill High school on Saturday, September 28 hosted by the Maryland Marching Band Association.