The Pea Ridge Blackhawk Marching Band was headed to Little Rock Monday for its first trip to state competition.
The Blackhawk Band was to perform its "Music After Dark" show at 4 p.m. Monday, two days after playing at the Northwest Arkansas Invitational in Siloam Springs. Pea Ridge has 58 members in its band.
State Marching Band Contest
Nine Northwest Arkansas high schools are among 65 schools scheduled to compete Monday and Tuesday in the 2017 Arkansas State Marching Contest at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Here’s when each Northwest Arkansas band is scheduled to perform and the classification in which they’ll compete. Each school gets a 15-minute time slot for its performance.
Monday
1:30 p.m.: Gentry High School (3A)
4 p.m.: Pea Ridge High School (3A)
4:45 p.m.: Gravette High School (3A)
6 p.m.: Prairie Grove High School (3A)
Tuesday
9:30 a.m.: Farmington High School (4A)
11:30 a.m.: Bentonville West High School (4A)
3:45 p.m.: Fayetteville High School (5A)
4:15 p.m.: Siloam Springs High School (5A)
4:45 p.m.: Bentonville High School (5A)
Source: Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association
"Everyone plays when it comes to band. We don't have a bench," said Kevin Hume, Pea Ridge's band director. "So every kid has to perform at a certain excellent level. We're only as good as our weakest player. That's pretty exciting when you see kids under that pressure and decide they're going to do it."
Hume believes band is a great thing for students because it teaches them responsibility, teamwork and other life lessons. Plus, he said, there is college scholarship money available for band members.
Pea Ridge planned to take two school buses to Little Rock, starting out at about 8 a.m. Monday. They plan to stick around until the awards ceremony, Hume said, so they probably won't return home until after midnight.
"Then on Tuesday, we start thinking about what we'll do next year," Hume said.
This year, 60 bands were scheduled to perform, ranging in size from 18 members to 220 members. More than 5,000 students from across the state are expected to participate, according to a schedule posted online by the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association.
They will compete at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium in one of five divisions based on their sizes. A 15-minute time slot is assigned for each band to perform either Monday or Tuesday. Bands had to qualify for the competition by earning either a first or second division at a regional marching assessment.
The state championship is the cap to a busy fall season for band students and directors.
Community on 11/01/2017