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The 2006 South Portland High School Marching Band season has been along one, but on November 4 at 6:00 P.M. the band played together for the last time in Biddeford, at the Waterhouse Football Field.

This years show was entitled “The Works of Walt Disney”. This included “Fantastic” and “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia, “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2 (with soloist Eric Beaver on Trumpet), and a medley of Disney themes including “The Incredibles”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Aladdin”, and “Beauty and the Beast”, featuring soloist Emily Libby on Alto Saxophone. The band receives the music at the beginning of the season and works in it for hours every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday until finals.

The marching band season starts in mid August when the band meets for 5 hours a day for a week or so. During these summer practice sessions the band puts together their show piece by piece: first music, then visual, then perfecting the two and bringing them together to create a 9 minute long performance on whish they will be judged throughout the season.

These judgings take place at MBDA (Maine Band Director’s Association) shows every Saturday starting in mid September and ending in late October. The band is judged in six categories: Drum Major (this year junior Chelsea Towson), Percussion (including drumline and pit band), Colorguard, Music, Visual, and General Effect. Each category gets a rating of 1 to 4 stars (4 being the best-the goal the band works towards the entire season) with the average of all six categories making up the score for Overall Band. This year at finals the band earned the following marks:

Drum Major: 3 stars	Percussion: 4 stars	Colorguard: 3 stars
Music: 4 stars	Visual: 3 stars	General Effect: 3 stars

The band received an overall rating of 4 stars, giving the band a gold medal (Old Orchard Beach and Portsmouth also received this honor). In 2005 the band only received a silver medal, to this was a huge victory for members of last years band, as well as newcomers. Junior Meaghan McKinnnon says, “This was my first year in marching band, and I regret not joining when I was a freshman. It’s such a fulfilling experience”.

Though the Marching Band season may be over, you can still look – and listen – for them at the Memorial Day Parade, but for the winter Jazz Band and The Musical occupy the lives of the young musicians here at South Portland High School.