With two parades already under their belts, the high school marching band is preparing for the biggest competition of the year and the Selma Rotary Marching Band Festival, Oct. 31.

The event, which will feature the theme “Music Spook-tacular” will pit the band against schools from the greater Central Valley. The group will participate in the parade, majorette, color guard, drum line and drum major competitions.

The campus band will march alongside 20 other bands in hope of winning first place in Division D. The Selma Festival is sponsored by the Selma Rotary Club.

Director Michael Ogdon says he feels well prepared for the event.

“In Selma, we will have a quality performance,” Ogdon said. “Each individual has their parts down. We are good at marching, have good players and the flags have their parts down. Despite our small size, we will put on a good show. People are surprised. I know they will want to see us perform. We perform bigger than we show.”

Drum major Alex Aleman agrees that the band’s size will not inhibit their success.

“The bands competing do both a parade and a field show, but because of the small size of our band, we only do the parade,” Aleman said. “Although the band might not be very confident, I do think they will do a fantastic job at our Selma competition, and they will do even better than before.”

Aleman says her optimism is partially due to her contentment with the band’s performance at the Reedley Fiesta & Rotary Parade, Oct. 10.

Appearing in his first parade as drum major, eighth grader Eric Cowin led the band through the competition. Cowin will take over next year after Aleman graduates. Aleman says she is proud of how well he did.

“Eric led the whole parade at the last minute,” Aleman said. “He thought he was just coming to the parade to help, but I told him a couple days before that he would in fact be leading. He wrote his own salute and did a marvelous job. I was sad to not lead the parade but it gave him and the band a chance to see what it would be like and gave me a chance to see what we need to work on.”

Even with musicians missing, junior Sydney Carlson, head snare player, says she felt satisfied with the band’s performance, despite a lack of validation due to the un-judged event.

“The band’s performance at the Reedley parade showed many improvements compared to out first performance at Caruthers [Oct. 3],” Carlson said. “Despite the fact that we were two members short and marching in a new parade, the music sounded fuller and more unified, we even made sure our spacing was correct.

“I felt especially proud of our fourteen-member band, we received many well-deserved prizes after we completed our route. But, with Selma rapidly approaching we must continue to work and practice hard.”

While still preparing for their next competition, Ogdon says he is working on the weak points of the parade routine, tying up the loose ends and polishing what is not yet perfect.

“I loved the feel at Reedley,” Ogdon said. “The community really gets behind it and the crowds are big. It was great being able to represent our school and I felt we did well. Also, I’m not nervous at all about Selma, we have done enough now that things will be fine. The biggest thing about Selma is that they televise the parade. Whatever we do is seen by more than just the people lining the streets. T.V. does not lie, what we look like and sound like is on display for everyone to see.”

For more information, e-mail Ogdon or e-mail the Selma Band Festival office.