Buchholz, Gainesville, and Santa Fe High School all competed recently at the ‘Echoes of Excellence’ Super Regional Florida Marching Band Coalition (FMBC) Competition at Middleburg High School. All three bands won their class in preliminaries (BHS - 5A, SFHS - 4A, GHS - 3A). In the finals, Buchholz finished in 1st place, Santa Fe in 3rd place and GHS in 5th place out of 17 groups total.
Four Alachua County bands also participated recently in the Florida Bandmasters Association District 4 Marching MPA (Music Performance Assessment) at Columbia High School. All four bands earned Straight Superiors. Congratulations to Clay Cobb, band director at Newberry High School; Bill Pirzer, band director at GHS; Nate Bisco, band director at SFHS; Alex Kaminsky, band director at BHS; and their outstanding band programs.
All four bands will be at the upcoming Southern Showcase of Champions FMBC Competition at Santa Fe High School. GHS, NHS, BHS are competing and SFHS is doing an exhibition performance as they are hosting the competition. A schedule and more information can be found at www.floridabandtournament.com under ‘Regional Events.” FMBC State Preliminary and Finals Competition will be Saturday, November 21st at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bands must qualify for state prelims by meeting a minimum score which changes each week. The top five bands from each class make state finals.