The Pea Ridge High School Marching Band completed its fall marching season on Monday, Nov. 4t, in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The band competed in the A.S.B.O.A. State Marching Contest in class 4A and placed fourth out of 28 bands.
Pea Ridge was one of only eight bands to receive a first division "superior" rating. This is just the third year for the A.S.B.O.A state marching contest and last year the band placed fifth in class 4A and 14th the year before. Arkadelphia, Ozark and Pocahontas were the three bands that placed ahead of Pea Ridge.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, the band traveled to Siloam Springs for the Northwest Invitation Marching Contest and place 3rd in the preliminary round as well as the highest score for color guard and qualified for the final round. Later that evening in the finals competition, the band outscored 7A band Springdale High School and moved into second place overall and had the highest scoring color guard once again.
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, the band traveled to Rogers High School for the A.S.B.O.A Region 6 Marching Assessment and scored a first division "superior" rating and was the only 4A band in the region to do so. This score qualified the band to participate at the state level competition.
The high school band started the marching contest season at the Dale Bumpers Invitation Marching Contest at Charleston High School and scored a First Division "superior" rating and received the highest percussion score of all the bands that competed.
The band's competition show this fall was written by local composer Drew Morris who composed the music specifically for the Pea Ridge Band which was eventually titled "Red Shadow." The titled started as an homage to the design of the band's new marching uniforms that they received last year.
A story line began to develop of a girl falling asleep in her bed and entering her "dreamland" only to be pursued by the "Red Shadow." Color guard member Taylor Edwards portrayed the young girl in dreamland and senior Lucus Carreira played the part of the "Red Shadow," a dark ominous figure pursuing the heroine which in turn turned her dreamland into a nightmare.
The music was composed in four movements -- the first revealing the red shadow figure creeping out from underneath the girl's bed and featured flute soloist senior Elsaysha Ewald. In the second movement the shadow begins to chase the girl and has her trapped at the end of the movement.
In the third movement, the girl slips back into a deep restless slumber while the shadow lurks. This movement featured two duets, the first included junior trumpeter Layton Powell and senior mellophone Aden Christensen; the second duet featured junior Morgan Rowlee on mellophone and junior Jeremiah Wachtel on trombone. The third movement also featured a dance solo by senior Stephanie Harris in the color guard.
The fourth and final movement begins with a snare solo by senior Caleb May and quickly draws the story line into a final battle between the girl and the shadow ending in triumph as the young girl defeats the Red Shadow. The story line and performances of the color guard continued to earn them high praise all season long along with the martial arts that Lucus Carreira incorporated into his character of the shadow as he wielded a bow staff throughout the performance. The band was conducted and led on the field by junior drum major Sydney Pejsa.
The marching band is under the direction of new head director Matt Pohl, Matt McCool and Sara Beth Eubanks. The band now focuses their attention towards the Pea Ridge Veteran's Day assembly and parade, the Middle School and High School band winter holiday concerts, junior and senior high region honor band and honor jazz band auditions and the Pea Ridge Christmas Parade.
Community on 11/13/2019