Pride of the Bluejays Step It Up
By Lauren Delka
The Pride of the Bluejays marching band competed at the quad state marching band competition at the University of South Dakota (USD) on Saturday, October 18, competing in class 2A, the band received first place in their division as well as best music in their division.
This competition consisted of only a field show for the competing bands. Pierce performed their show first, but this did not keep them from doing their best.
“We performed as good as we performed all season, but we still have a few little things we can work on,” Mike Sindt, director of the Pride of the Bluejays marching band, explains. “Some of the judges’ comments included just some individual things like somebody out of step or maybe not quite having the right body movement at the right spot and just little music things, but still of a lot of positive comments, like we played some good loud and soft, good dynamics, good musicality.”
Because the band performed first, the students were given the option to leave early if they needed to, but the students who stayed had the opportunity to watch the other bands as well as the USD marching band while they waited for the award ceremony.
Waiting did not disappoint for the band, because their hard work and improvements paid off.
“I think we performed really well,” Aubrie Zimmerman, a junior and saxophone player in the band, states. “We definitely fixed a lot of previous mistakes, and overall, we played very musically.”
Going into their next competition, Sindt states, “ I felt we did really well overall, and I'm excited to wrap up our season on Saturday in Kearney.”
