County Marching Bands Top Weekend Competitions

Both Bluffton and Norwell marching bands had plenty to shout about Saturday.

Competing at different competitions, both the Bengal Brigade and the Marching Knights (pictured above) took top honors in their respective classes.

Bluffton, competing in a Mid-States competition at Hamilton Southeastern in Fishers placed first, and also won “Best Music” and “Best Visual” caption awards in their class. Mid-States competitions are grouped according to the number of members in each band, as opposed to ISSMA’s grouping according to the number of students in each school, so Bluffton was competing in Class A in Fishers.

Crawfordsville placed second and won the caption award for “Best Effect”, while Connorsville placed third.

Competing at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Norwell made it four wins from four competitions for the year, winning Class C in their ISSMA competition, and also claiming the caption awards for “Best Music”, “Best Visual” and “Best General Effect.

Norwell beat out Leo, Fairfield and John Glenn in their division.

Thanks to the Norwell Music Boosters for the photo that went with this post. Photos of Bluffton will follow.

Both Bluffton and Norwell compete at Homestead Saturday. Bluffton will compete in Class D at 11:26 a.m., while Norwell competes in Class C at 1: 36 p.m.

2011 Street Fair -Show Choir Competition

Watch the Bluffton High School "Musical Entourage" start the evening and the Norwell Knight Moves defy the rain at the Street Fair Show Choir competition. Learn more in the Friday, September 23, News-Banner. Catch more performances on our "Street Fair" blog in our blog bank at www.news-banner.com. (Video by Frank Shanly)

County Bands Shine in Weekend Competition

It was a busy, and successful Saturday weekend for both Norwell and Bluffton marching bands after competitions at Dekalb and New Haven.

For Norwell’s Marching Knights, pictured above, the return was especially rewarding, as they attended both competitions, and placed first in Class C at both events. At Dekalb, the Marching Knights also picked up the caption awards for “Best Music” and “Best Visual,” while at New Haven, they collected “Best Music,” Best Visual” and “Best General Effect.”

Competing at Dekalb, Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade placed second in Class D, behind Woodlan. Bluffton won the caption award for “Best Music”, but were edged by Woodlan for “Best Visual” and “Best General Effect.”

Bluffton compete at 5:15 p.m. at Hamilton Southeastern this Saturday, in a Midstates competition.

Norwell will compete at 5:06 p.m. at Penn High School in Mishawaka on Saturday.

Weekend results from Dekalb and New Haven are as follows:

At Dekalb:
Class A: 1-Homestead, 2-Northrop, 3-Huntington North, 4-Warsaw; Music- Homestead, Visual-Homestead, General Effect- Homestead.
Class B: 1-North Side, 2-East Noble, 3-Columbia City, 4-Wayne, 5-Bishop Dwenger, 6-South Side; Music-North Side, Visual-North Side, General Effect-North Side.
Class C: 1-Norwell, 2-Concordia Lutheran, 3-Leo, 4-Heritage, 5-North Wood, 6-Garrett, 7-Bellmont; Music-Norwell, Visual-Norwell, General Effect-Concordia Lutheran.
Class D: 1-Woodlan, 2-Bluffton, 3-Eastside, 4-Hicksville, Ohio; Music-Bluffton, Visual-Woodlan, General Effect-Woodlan.

At New Haven:
Class A: 1-Carroll, 2-Huntington North; Music- Carroll, Visual-Carroll, General Effect-Carroll, Pit Crew-Huntington North.
Class B: 1-DeKalb, 2-East Noble, 3-Wayne, 4-South Side; Music-DeKalb, Visual-DeKalb, General Effect-DeKalb, Pit Crew-Wayne.
Class C: 1-Norwell, 2-Heritage; Music-Norwell; Visual-Norwell, General Effect-Norwell, Pit Crew-Heritage.

Thanks to the Norwell Music Boosters for the photo. Check their band web site at www.norwellbands.webs.com

Bluffton Performs "On The Banks Of The Wabash"

The Bengal Brigade on its NEW home turf!

Norwell Performs "On The Banks of the Wabash"

A few pics from Norwell's performance Saturday. Bluffton to follow......

Marching Knights "Parent Preview" - #2 of 2

Marching Knights "Parent Preview" - #1 of 2

Prior to their departure for "On The Banks Of The Wabash" Saturday, Norwell's Marching Knights showed their parents and other family members how they do what they do.

We have two sets of photos from this part of the afternoon, and also a brief video clip to follow.

Norwell, Homestead, Dekalb and Woodlan the big winners "On The Banks Of The Wabash"

Bluffton High School’s new look Fred Park Field went on display to representatives from schools all over Northeast Indiana Saturday, as Bluffton hosted its 34th annual “On The Banks Of The Wabash” marching band competition.

After the less than spectacular weather of the previous week, bands from 20 area schools and their supporters were greeted to a bright sunny day, and a solid track on which to perform their respective routines. At the close of competition, Bluffton’s “Bengal Brigade” performed an exhibition of their season’s competition routine, “Green,” just prior to the final awards.

And while the field may have been different, the results were almost a repeat of last year with Homestead (Class A), Dekalb (Class B), Norwell (Class C) and Woodlan (Class D) once again taking out the top honors in their respective groups, and Homestead once again taking the “Grand Champion" award, scoring the most points across all four classes.

This year wasn’t quite the clean sweep of last year however.

While Homestead, Norwell and Woodlan claimed all three caption awards in their classes, Angola’s Hornet Brigade was able to steal the “Best Visual” caption from Dekalb in Class B. The Baron Brigade however did secure "Best General Effect" and "Best Music," enabling them to secure the class title.

IPFW Band Director and Director of Instrumental Studies Dr. Chad Nicholson presented the awards in all four classes.

Both Bluffton and Norwell travel to Dekalb for competition this weekend. Bluffton will compete in Class D, while Norwell will compete in Class C.

Full results from “On The Banks of the Wabash” are as follows:

Class A:
1st — Homestead.
2nd — Carroll.
3rd — Northrop.
4th — Snider.
5th — Huntington North.
Visual — Homestead.
Music — Homestead.
General Effect — Homestead.

Class B:
1st — Dekalb.
2nd — Angola.
3rd — East Noble.
4th — Columbia City.
5th — Bishop Dwenger.
6th — Wayne.
Visual — Dekalb.
Music — Dekalb.
General Effect — Angola.

Class C:
1st — Norwell.
2nd — Concordia.
3rd — Heritage.
4th — Garrett.
5th — New Haven.
Visual — Norwell.
Music — Norwell.
General Effect — Norwell.

Class D:
1st — Woodlan.
2nd — Adams Central.
3rd — Eastside.
4th — Bremen.
Visual — Woodlan.
Music — Woodlan.
General Effect — Woodlan.

Additional photos and video from the event will be posted over the coming week.