Group participates in first ever ISSMA Semistate competition

By Hope Boyer
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The 22nd annual Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) State competition is just around the corner for this school’s marching band and color guard.

But, before the group reaches State, it must compete in the ISSMA Semistate competition on Oct. 25. This is the first year the marching band here has ever competed in the Semistate competition.

According to Richard Saucedo, director of bands and performing arts chairperson, the Semistate competition is just another weekend that the band has to compete in.

“It’s our job to make sure at the end of the week we’re showing at least a week’s improvement, if not more,” Saucedo said.

According to Jessica Hoffa, member of the marching band and senior, the Semistate competition will provide a good tune-up.

“ISSMA (Semistate) is like our trial run before we actually have to compete for the real deal. It helps us individually and as a group. On (Oct.) 25th, I hope that we can perform just as well as we have been. This year’s been awesome so far and I love our show,” Hoffa said.

The reason for the new Semistate competition is to narrow down the number of Indiana high school bands competing in the State competition, according to Saucedo.

In the past, the Semistate competition chose five schools from the north district and five from the south to move on to the State competition. Since there was a discrepancy among the schools that won from the two districts, the policy of choosing schools to advance will differ from last year’s.

Now, the State competition will choose the top 10 bands from the entire state in order to avoid concerns that winning schools from one district received lower scores than schools in the other district who did not receive a victory.

According to Kevin Carlson, drum major and senior, the ISSMA competition is a great place to re-evaluate how well the band is doing compared to the other bands in Indiana.

“ISSMA always helps us fix what we haven’t already perfected for Nationals,” Carlson said. “It lets us see how good the other bands, like Avon and Lawrence Central are this year.”

Saucedo said, “We obviously just want to make sure that we’re the best.”