Crowds line the streets, while the aroma of fresh food permeates the scene. A rainbow of balloons drifts through the air while children?s laughter echoes, foreshadowing the music soon to come–a perfect day for a parade.

After weeks of preparation, the band arrived at the Selma Band Review ready to perform on Oct. 28. The band marched down the streets to John Williams’ Star Wars theme. A few hours later the band took the field in their first ever field show performance to the theme of superheroes.

?Performing a field show took more work,? director Chris Rice said, ?but I felt that the students would enjoy it. It was a great learning experience. We have one more field show competition at the Fairfield Review of Champions, and I think the students will be able to learn from their mistakes and grow together as a band.?

Anticipation built as the bands awaited the results of the parade. The awards were presented for division D without mention of Fresno Christian.

?The band did great,? director Chris Rice said after the presentation. ?I think we could have done better if the band was larger; we lost most of the lower end from last year. We did the best with what we had.?

The judges ranked the band sixth out of nine in their division. This broke the first place streak the high school band has maintained since 1983.

?I feel bad because I let the band down by not participating,? Micaelah Aleman, ’08, said. ?I was in band last year but I’m not this year. It makes me wonder if they could have done better if more people were involved.?

The band also did not place in the field show competition.

?I think we could have placed in the field show if we had been able to get the third movement down,? Hannah Wilhelm, drum major, ?07, said. ?We did not really know what to expect with the field show, but now we will be ready in the future.?

The band performed only two movements, giving the other bands the advantage to come out on top.

?I think that through the field show we enhanced our repertoire by adding on another level of sophistication in music competition,? Alexandra Aleman, ?10, said.

Although the marching band and field shows did not place Wilhelm received third place in the open drum major division and Jessica Massie, ?11, received second in the solo twirler division.

?I did my best,? Wilhelm said, ?I mainly tried to get the band through the parade, which is what matters. I was excited that I came out of Selma with an award.?

Massie, as an eighth grader, competed with high school majorettes in other bands.

?I was shocked that I got second,? Massie said. ?Selma is a huge competition, and I did not place last year.?

For the first time, the junior high band competed in the parade as well. Though they placed eighth of eight, this marks a new beginning.

?The junior high band was phenomenal,? Rice said. ?I did not expect them to win since it was their first year, but now we have something to build on for the future.?

The high school band will next march in the Pismo Beach Band Review on Nov. 11. Then the marching band and jazz band will compete at the Fairfield Review of Champions, (46.9 miles north of San Francisco) on Nov. 18.