Marching band brings home superior rating.

The Star Valley High School Marching Braves have returned from the Wyoming State Marching Band Festival Competition held in Casper on Saturday, Oct. 13, with a rating of Superior I in 4A marching bands.
This is the highest rating possible for marching bands to achieve in the state of Wyoming. The other ratings are Excellent II, Good III, Fair IV and Poor V. This is the first time that Star Valley High School has achieved a Superior rating at the State Marching Band Festival.
“We are extremely proud of how we performed in Casper,” director Kurt Sand said.
The 53 SVHS students that make up the Marching Braves, under the direction of Sand, performed their state festival show in front of an audience of over 4,000 people and seven judges. The judges evaluated the Braves in the categories of Marching and Maneuvering General Effect, Marching and Maneuvering Execution, Music General Effect, Music Execution, Percussion, Auxiliary (color guard) and Drum Majors.
The Marching Braves performed three pieces with a disco theme at this year’s state competition. They performed Disco Inferno, Le Freak/The Hustle melody and Stayin’ Alive.
The other bands that competed in the state competition this year were Shoshoni, Rawlins, Douglas, Wheatland, Worland, Buffalo, Lander, Cheyenne Central, Kelly Walsh (Casper), Natrona County (Casper), Laramie, Riverton, Evanston, Campbell County (Gillette) and Cheyenne East.
In addition to their Superior rating, the Marching Braves were awarded two “Caption Awards” in the areas of Outstanding Brass Section and Overall General Effect. Caption awards are won by groups receiving a score of 90 percent or better from the judge in that particular area.
The Overall General Effect caption award is especially difficult to achieve because the band must score 90 percent or better from both the Marching and Maneuvering General Effect judge and the Music General Effect judge.
The final honor brought home by the band was that of the Casper Troopers’ Leadership Award given to Drum Majors Keili Bell and Devin Sand. This award is based upon the band director’s recommendation of individuals or sections that display outstanding leadership, commitment and dedication to the marching band.
According to director Kurt Sand, “Drum majors Bell and Sand have done an outstanding job preparing the Marching Braves for this year’s State Marching Competition.”
Star Valley’s drum majors were just five points from winning the Drum Major Caption Award. Color Guard Captain Amber Smith also received high praise from the Color Guard judge in the comments section of the judging sheet.
The SVHS Marching Band practices every other day during the school year for 90 minutes, and they also participate in evening rehearsals for several weeks prior to the state competition.
A marching band camp was held during the second week of August from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., where student musicians got to work on their skills with Kurt Sand, Dennis Reese and Matthew Krause.
During the school year, the marching band performs at the homecoming parade and homecoming halftime, as well as several other football games In years past they have also performed for the ISU homecoming parade.
The State Marching Band Festival Competition is the only competition for marching bands in the state of Wyoming.