Drum majors – Elizabeth Lee is left, wearing a salsa dress – stood in the center before the performance begins. Audience cheered and gave a round of applause when the two drum majors showed salsa steps.
The football field was filled with different kind of vividness: colorful costumes, beautiful sound of instruments, lively performance and cheers and a round of applause from the audience.
Oakton Classic is the annual invitational marching band competition run by the band boosters of Oakton High School.
The competition took place on Sept. 26 and this year 12 high schools – excluding the host – from Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County and Frederick County participated to compete.
In the competition, Lake Braddock Secondary School’s Bruin Marching Band won the first place in the class 5A category and also received the Cougar Gold Award among overall first place in classes of 3A and above.
THE CLASS depends on the number of musicians in the band: school with up to 50 musicians is in the class A category and school with 131 or more musicians is in the class 5A category.
Ava Ingegneri and Laura Sizemore – sophomore and junior, respectively – are both color guard captains for the Bruin Marching Band at Lake Braddock. They said they did well overall and were passionate about their role.
“I like the energy,” Ingegneri said.
The Bruin Marching Band was the biggest group among the participating schools – 230 members total in the band. Their repertoire was “La Suerte De Los Tontos,” or “Fortune of Fools,” and they played Bolero, Salsa and Malaguena.
When the band performers marched and spread across the football field, green grass was beautifully getting covered by the school colors: purple and gold. Several color guards, wearing red tops with yellow stripes in them, also stood out nicely.
Standing in the middle of the entire band was one of the two drum majors, Elizabeth Lee, senior. Dressed up in a bright red salsa dress, Lee, with her partner, showed a quick salsa step involving swift turn and body movements.
It seemed to be a surprise for the audience that the band started their performance with such vivid salsa steps by the two drum majors. Cheers and a round of applause from the bleachers did not stop for a while.
Then the marching band performance began.
Strong sound of brass and winds boomed across the field. As the musicians in uniforms – white cowboy-looking hat, purple jacket and black pants – marched and played their instruments, they would sometimes line up in a straight line, and the other time they would make a circle.
Each color guard demonstrating techniques using a few colorful flags was another fascinating part of the performance. They twisted their arms turning the flags and threw them in the air, then neatly caught them back. Their body movements were flowing well with the rest of the performance and the music.
After their performance, they were ready to watch the final program of the day by Oakton High School, the host.
“[What I like about the competition is] we can hear other schools,” said Gabe Fuentes, freshman and one of the cymbalists in the Bruin Marching Band.
Lee was also pleased with how the group did. She said her group experienced a major difficulty in some spots during the rehearsal but they pulled it together and did well overall in the performance.
“I just love being able to help every single section and everyone,” she said.
LATER IN OCTOBER, Lake Braddock Secondary School will have a few more important band competitions to attend, including the Shenandoah Valley Marching Invitational on Oct. 10 at Harrisonburg High School.
Michael Luley, the director of the Bruin Marching Band, said Saturday’s competition was a great chance for his students to prepare for the upcoming competitions. Within the next few weeks, he would like to particularly focus on Bolero and Salsa, and perfecting musical effects as well as marching.
For the results of the 30th Annual Oakton Classic and further information for upcoming band competitions, visit http://www.oaktonbands.com/oakton-classic and http://www.vboda.org.