The competitive season is over for the Pride of Pickens Marching Band, and it was a season filled with success and growth. On October 15th , the band traveled to Sprayberry High School for the Southern Invitational Music Festival. The band was one of three bands in the 2A division (contest divisions are done by the total number of wind players in the band, no percussion or auxiliary units), competing against a band from North Carolina and one from Alabama. At the end of the night, the band had won Best in Class for Percussion, Outstanding Performance Award for Majorette, and placed first place in the 2A division! The band then went on to win Best Overall Music, Best General Effect, Best Majorette and was awarded Silver Division (all 1A and 2A bands) Champions for the contest! Other highlights included the highest music performance score of the day from Alfred Watkins, retired band director of Lassiter High School, the 3rd highest music performance score of the day out of 14 bands, the 5th highest general effect score of the day and the 7th highest visual performance score of the day. The overall band score rank was 4th overall behind three Bands of America competition-level bands! “It was a pretty awesome day for the band! "This has been the hardest-working group that I’ve had in the six years I’ve been at Pickens and we got better at every rehearsal. Attendance at rehearsals has been incredible and the playing ability of the students just keeps rising! I’m so proud of these students and we couldn’t do it without the help of our booster club and parent support,” said Michael Oubre, Band Director. The final contest of the season was held at Barron Stadium as part of the Rome High School Peach State Contest. The band had a wonderful performance that was as good or better than the Sprayberry contest and the percussion and color guard units were placed Best in Class in 2A for the day, out of five bands! “I was particularly happy for these two units, as they’ve had many changes and obstacles to overcome this season. Their instructors, Shannon O’Dell and Clarissa Wallen, are incredible teachers and mentors. I’m so lucky and fortunate to have them on our staff. As far as we are from colleges, it’s great to be able to have talent of their caliber to work with our group,” continued Mr. Oubre. At the end of a very long day, the band placed 4th in 2A. Mr. Oubre said, “Contests are weird sometimes. One band wasn’t placed 1st by any judge (five judge format, Olympic style) but then won all of 3A. Another was placed 1st by 2 judges and ended up in 6th place. I don’t understand it, and I’m a judge during this time of year as well. The important thing to take from any contest is to learn and grow. We’ve continually grown every year and that won’t stop as long as I’m here. I’ve got the hardest-working kids you can find and we all love what we do. Besides, we’ve got some pretty cool stuff coming up!” The Pickens High School Band, along with the Fannin County Band, was accepted to perform in the 6 ABC Dunkin Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia on November 24th ! The bands will combine to perform one unit and have two rehearsals soon to work out all logistics of the trip. The bands will leave on November 20th to travel all night to New York City, followed by a Broadway Show, a Blue Man Group performance, sight-seeing shopping, and more. The band will then head to Philadelphia on Wednesday for more sight-seeing and preparation for the parade on Thursday morning. “We are so excited to get to perform in the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the nation. It is a huge event, with over 19 bands, hundreds of parade units, and more! Being able to represent Pickens and North Georgia by combining with Fannin is a huge honor,” said Mr. Oubre. The band will have Thanksgiving dinner together after the parade and then travel back to Pickens on Friday. Next up for the marching band are the remaining games of the football season, where they will continue to support the team as they always do, and hold hopes for a long run in the playoffs. Following that will be the Veteran's Day Parade and concert on November 11, the Jasper Christmas Parade on December 3, and our Winter concert on December 1 at 7pm in the PAC at Pickens High School. The band has already had a fall concert this year. “It is vitally important to make sure that quality literature is taught during the school day. Not a lot of bands perform a fall concert because of the time demands of the marching band, but marching band is extracurricular and class time is when we prepare music for concerts. The students enjoy learning the music and appreciate the break from the time spent in marching band,” said Michael Oubre. “As always, we are very appreciative of our incredible administration, teacher support and the support of our band family. This is a very special group of students. I’m very blessed to be able to get to work with them. I hope they learn as much from me as I learn from them.”