The Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) provides a number of services for elementary through college level instrumental music groups in Southern California, including providing clinics for educators and students and hosting festivals for soloists and ensembles, including marching band competitions.
The SCSBOA honor groups for elementary through high school students are prestigious music groups which students audition for. They include the band, string orchestra, full orchestra, and jazz band. Students accepted into the groups often demonstrate their expertise in their instruments as well as their motivation to take music to a higher degree. Numerous new musical works have been commissioned for these honor groups over the years to include Double Helix which was published by CPP Belwin.
The festivals run by the organization rate groups on how well they play. Each group plays three prepared pieces and then sightreads a piece that is one level below those they prepared. For many school's music groups, these festivals are long-awaited and practiced for.
The field band competitions are an extensive number of parade and field show competitions. SCSBOA Adjudicators are selected based on their prior experience in competition with their own groups and are peers to the directors of the competing groups.
Parade competitions are typically hosted by cities or communities but may be hosted by a school band. Specialized parades, called Band Reviews, consist of a parade of only bands and possibly led by a few dignitaries in automobiles. Parade Bands are judged in the categories of Band, Drill Team, Auxiliary, and Drum Major. Parades and Band Reviews may classify competing bands based on total school enrollment, size of the band, or by ranking of the band's scores from competitions in the previous season. The method of classification is determined by the event chairman.
The SCSBOA field show circuit is the most popular in Southern California. Field show competitions are typically hosted by a high school band, inviting other schools to attend. Although there is no rule, hosts at SCSBOA field show competitions typically do not compete in their own competition. Field show bands are judged in the categories of Band, Percussion, and Auxiliary, assigned a Classification based on the total number of musicians performing. Many bands strive to be selected for the SCSBOA Field Show Championships, held the mid-November of each year. Throughout the season, the bands are scored and the 12 top-scoring bands in each class, based on the total of their top three scores of the season, are eligible to compete in SCSBOA Field Championships.
Below is an incomplete list of class champions:
Year [1] | 1A | 2A | 3A | 4A | 5A | 6A |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Arlington | Capistrano Valley | William S. Hart | Valencia | John W. North | Etiwanda |
2003 | West Hills | Santa Margarita Catholic | William S. Hart | Valencia | John W. North | Etiwanda |
2004 | Bellflower | La Puente | Santa Margarita | William S. Hart | Fountain Valley | El Dorado |
2005 | Los Angeles | La Puente | San Marcos | William S. Hart | Carlsbad | Chino |
2006 | Capistrano Valley | Los Alamitos | Chino Hills | William S. Hart | Fountain Valley | Chino |
2007 | Charter Oak | San Marcos | West Ranch | William S. Hart | Los Osos | Chino |
2008 | San Marcos | Eastlake | West Ranch | William S. Hart | Murrieta Valley | Chino |
2009 | Los Angeles | Azusa | Carlsbad | William S. Hart | Savanna | Chino |
2010 | San Marcos | Patriot | Carlsbad | William S. Hart | Nogales | Chino |
2011 | Charter Oak | Colony | Azusa | South Hills | Vista | Chino |
2012 | Los Angeles | San Marcos | Azusa | West Ranch | Los Osos | Etiwanda |
2013 | San Marcos | Patriot | Valencia | William S. Hart | Fountain Valley | Rancho Bernardo |
2014 | Saddleback | Moorpark | Palisades | William S. Hart | Fountain Valley | Arcadia |
2015 | San Pedro | Buena | Valencia | William S. Hart | Vista | Mt. Carmel |
2016 | San Pedro | Chaffey | Aliso Niguel | William S. Hart | Vista | Mt. Carmel |
2017 | Highland | San Pedro | Aliso Niguel | Warren | Chino Hills | Mt. Carmel |
2018 | Monrovia | San Pedro | Aliso Niguel | William S. Hart | Warren | Mt. Carmel |
2019 | Grover Cleveland | University City | San Pedro | Aliso Niguel | West Ranch | Mt. Carmel |
2020 | Field band championships cancelled. | |||||
2021 | Grover Cleveland | Westlake | South Hills | West Ranch | Chino | Rancho Bernardo |
2022 | Castaic | Valencia | Vista | William S. Hart | Chino | Rancho Bernardo |
2023 | Damien | Moorpark | Thousand Oaks | West Ranch | Arroyo | Rancho Bernardo |
A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. They are most popular in the United States, though not uncommon in other parts of the world. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, often of a military style, that includes an associated organization's colors, name or symbol. Most high school marching bands, and some college marching bands, are accompanied by a color guard, a group of performers who add a visual interpretation to the music through the use of props, most often flags, rifles, and sabers.
Bands of America (BOA) is a music education advocacy organization and promoter of high school marching band competitions in the United States, such as the annual Grand National Championships. Established in 1975 as Marching Bands of America (MBA), founder Larry McCormick's goal was to provide educational opportunities for music students nationwide. McCormick organized the first annual Summer Workshop and Festival in 1976. Renamed Bands of America in 1984, the organization became an independent, tax-exempt entity in 1988. In 2006, Bands of America merged with the Music for All Foundation, a music education advocacy organization, becoming the flagship program of the combined organization. Bands of America has received numerous awards from IFEA.
A school band is a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together. A concert band is usually under the direction of one or more conductors. A school band consists of woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments, although upper level bands may also have string basses or bass guitar.
Santa Monica High School, officially abbreviated to Samohi, is a public high school in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1891, it changed location several times in its early years before settling into its present campus at 601 Pico Boulevard. It is a part of the Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District.
Independence High School, also referred to as IHS, is a public high school located in the Berryessa district of San Jose, California, United States. The school is operated by the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD). Its namesake is the United States Declaration of Independence, which celebrated its bicentennial in the same year Independence High was established in 1976.
Fairfax High School (FHS) is a public high school in the Eastern United States, located in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb west of Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia. The school is owned by the City of Fairfax, but is operated by Fairfax County Public Schools under a contractual agreement between it and Fairfax County.
Dos Pueblos High School is a public high school located in Goleta, California, northwest of Santa Barbara. Located adjacent to the foothills on the edge of the Goleta Valley in an area known as El Encanto Heights, it serves a student body of approximately 2,300 in grades 9-12. It is one of three comprehensive high schools in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
Oakton High School is a public high school in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in proximity to Vienna, Virginia, in the United States. It is part of Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia.
Mt. Carmel High School (MCHS) is a public high school located in Rancho Peñasquitos, a community of San Diego, California, United States. The school is part of the Poway Unified School District and its mascot is the Sundevil.
The Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association is an organization of high school, middle school, and elementary school band and orchestra directors within the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose mission is to help promote opportunities of music education to K-12 students. Many of the events that the VBODA organizes schools from around Virginia to compete with each other, and to give outstanding individual student musicians a chance to work with renowned conductors around the United States. The VBODA is the primary arbiter for various band and orchestra events throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Western Band Association (WBA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes high school music education in California, Arizona and Nevada. Specifically, the WBA organizes many marching band competitions for high school students. Its championships event is considered to be the second-largest single marching contest in the country.
A show choir is a musical ensemble that combines choral singing with choreographed dance, often integrated into a narrative story. Show choirs have been popularized by the American television show Glee but have a longer history dating back to glee clubs in London in the 18th century, musical theatre, music in the plays of William Shakespeare and the theatre of ancient Greece.
Concord High School is a 9–12 comprehensive public high school in Concord, California, United States. It is one of the six high schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. Concord High School was constructed in 1966 and currently provides 144,373 square feet (13,412.7 m2) in permanent structure, including about 70 classrooms, a library, and other structures. As of 2023, the current principal is Julene MacKinnon.
Henry J. Kaiser High School is a small to medium-sized high school located at 11155 Almond Avenue in Fontana, California. Kaiser High is one of five comprehensive high schools within Fontana Unified School District. The school is named after renowned American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, who founded the famous Kaiser Steel Mill, which helped to revolutionize the city of Fontana.
Buena High School (BHS) is a comprehensive public high school located in Ventura, California, United States. Opened in 1961, it is part of the Ventura Unified School District and serves the eastern portion of Ventura.
Dartmouth High School is a four-year public high school serving grades 9 to 12, located in the southern half of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States.
Reedley High School was established in 1918 as the first public high school in Reedley, California, and in the Kings Canyon Unified School District. It boasts one of the largest marching bands on the West Coast. Every year, Reedley High hosts a CMEA Music Festival.
The Tournament of Bands (TOB), also known as Tournament of Bands / Tournament Indoor Association (TOB/TIA), is an American school band association and governing body that sanctions marching band, color guard, and drumline, competitions in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The "tournament of bands", or "tournament indoor", culminates in regional championships, or Chapter Championships, followed by the Atlantic Coast Championships (ACC), every November and May.
The Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association (MACBDA) was a governing body and summer high school marching band competition circuit based in the Upper Midwest.
Somerset Berkley Regional High School is the public high school for the towns of Somerset and Berkley, Massachusetts, United States, beginning in September 2011.