<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1vCH0X_1Gxa7G9X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1vCH0X_1Gxa7G9X00" width="432" height="329" ></figure>Elizabeth Spencer | American Fork Citizen The American Fork Marching Band recently competed at the Red Rocks State Competition and took first place. The band swept all the caption titles that evening, coming in with a final score of 91.263. The Utah Music Educators Association hosts the event annually at Greater Zion Stadium at Utah Tech University in St. George. “I thought it went well. I think that all the kids performed to the best of their ability. It was easily our best run of the year, up until that point,” said AFHS Marching Band Director Orien Landis. The Cavemen have taken home the state title straight since 2003. Although they received high scores this year with their show “The Lake Beneath,” the performance had a few major glitches. “I think despite some challenging circumstances they actually did better than they had been set up to be,” shared Landis.“We had some technical difficulty at the beginning with our electronics not working, but it really gave our band a chance to see how well we can work without the extra effects and how well we can recover from things that you haven’t really had a chance to see. Being able to still stay calm after having a little bit of an issue is truly inspiring,” said Drum Major Alyson Beardall. Landis called the challenge a “catastrophic electronic failure”; none of the microphones outside of their wireless microphones worked. All the synthesizer parts throughout the show, all the sound effects, front ensemble, and shotgun mics didn’t work. “It’s not the show, but it is a huge portion of the show,” said Landis about the problem. “When that stuff doesn’t work, it’s not the same feel. But the kids are so mature; they handled the difficulty because they weren’t getting the musical cues they normally would. They had to do everything based on counts.” “Luckily, the band has rehearsed it enough that they were able to have a great performance despite some really challenging stuff,” added Landis. “Last night was definitely a night that we were not used to,” said color guard captain Emmie O’Camb. “I feel like starting it was a little shaky. I was honestly unsure, but the second I heard that violin, I was like, we are committing to saving this performance. I think it showed a lot of maturity to keep going through a run without the sound system, because there are a lot of musical cues we go off throughout the show. We just went purely off counting and trusting one another, and it was one of our best performances. I don’t think a lot of other bands could do that.”“We all handled it well and recovered very fast. Although it wasn’t probably our best sounding, the band still did their personal best,” said senior Drum Major Kamalu Willing. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0B2Qy3_1Gxa7G9X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0B2Qy3_1Gxa7G9X00" width="1024" height="768" ></figure>Color guard captain Kennedy Crim has a lead in the show as the Swan. She shares a moving performance, gracefully dancing across the field waving her huge feather wings. The show concludes with enveloping a violin soloist in her wings. “I enjoy the aspect of getting to evoke an emotion in the crowd. It’s this passion that I have for color guard and something that I love, and I get to show that to the audience and make them feel it too through me,” shared Crim. “Together as a team we were out there, and I felt this energy; we were just in it to win it,” said Crim of the band’s state competition performance. “I really like where we are at right now, because we finally reached the perfect balance of being very focused in our performance and having lots of energy and being hyped,” said drum major Zachary Warner. “Being a state champion is really cool. The title doesn’t matter as much as how marching band makes us better people. I’ve developed myself so much as a person, gained so much character thanks to marching band.” “I am so proud. I think that it reflects the hard work we’ve done across the season. I’m so proud of this band and every band in Utah. I’m very proud to say that we could be the pride of Utah,” shared O’Camb.The day after the state competition, the band competed in the Bands of America (BOA) Regional Competition, where they also placed first and took all the captions coming in with a score of 90.05. Landis called their preliminary performance of the show Saturday afternoon compared to Friday’s, “another level.” As per BOA tradition, first-place winners take the field one last time after scores are announced to perform an encore run of their show. It was a late night for the Cavemen and band dads who brought the house down with their performance. Drum Major Micah Rajaratnam called this weekend a steppingstone to Grand Nationals. “Winning state is awesome. We get to go against all the high schools we are friends with; at state, we’re competing against each other, but it’s just fun to see how everyone is doing and what they’ve created throughout their entire summer and school year. I love doing state.” “I love being surrounded by greatness,” said O’Camb of heading to Grand Nationals. “We are surrounded by greatness here in Utah, but when you get there, it is a whole other level. It’s a surreal experience. I like to take the time to be grateful for where I am. I love the place. I am so excited, and performing is literally like nothing I will ever do again. So, I’m going to make the most of it.”This week, the band will compete at Grand Nationals in Indianapolis, where over 100 bands will compete on the national stage at Lucas Oil Stadium. AFHS Marching Band is hoping to make it to the finals, where the top 12 bands compete and rank nationally. In 2024, the Cavemen placed 8th. If you would like to see the band compete live this weekend, go to box5tv.com </div></body>

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The American Fork Marching Band recently competed at the Red Rocks State Competition and took first place. The band swept all the caption titles that evening, coming in with a final score of 91.263. The Utah Music Educators Association hosts the event annually at Greater Zion Stadium at Utah Tech University in St. George.

AFHS Marching Band sweeps state competition despite electronic failure

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The American Fork Marching Band recently competed at the Red Rocks State Competition and took first place. The band swept all the caption titles that eveni

AFHS Marching Band sweeps state competition despite electronic failure

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