Story by Nancy Caggia and photos by Kevin LaWall. Above, Green Hope Band Director Brian Meyers leading band onto the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Cary, NC- Several area high school marching bands traveled to Indianapolis over the long weekend to compete in what has become an annual rite of passage. Cary High School advanced this weekend to the finals.

Bands of America Championship

The marching bands of Green Hope and Cary High schools competed at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts, on Friday 11/11/11 in the Bands of America Grand National Championships. Bands of America is recognized as the premier marching band event in the nation. More than 90 bands from across America participate, including some of the finest, most progressive bands in the activity today.

The 2011 field competition featured 92 bands in preliminary competition.  Green Hope and Cary High competed at 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.

Cary High Advances to Saturday Morning

From the field of 92, thirty-six advance to play again on Saturday morning. Cary High was among them.

From these thirty-six, only twelve advance to play AGAIN on Saturday evening in the finals. None of our area high schools made it to this stage. Stiff competition from  Midwestern bands Broken Arrow High School in Oklahoma and Avon High School from Indianapolis placed these two 1st and 2nd.

Final results are posted on the Grand Nationals website

Special to CaryCitizen by Nancy Caggia

Cary, NC – The Green Hope High School Marching Band won two competitions and claimed the honor of performing in the pre-game show at the Gator Bowl yesterday.

GHHS took 1st Place in the Field Competition Awards including:

• Color Guard
• Percussion
• Drum Major
• Marching
• Music
• General Effect

They scored a clean 1^st place sweep in all Class 3A and overall categories. The team also won special recognition:

• Gator Bowl Parade Awards: 1^st place in Class 3A-Outstanding Music; Auxiliary; Marching and General Effect

In addition to starring in the pre-game show, the band also performed as part of a gala production during halftime.

The Gator Bowl is the sixth oldest college football bowl game, held continuously since 1946. The 112 members and supporting band parents are expected to arrive back in Cary around 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Congratulations to the GHHS Marching Band on their thunderous victory!

CaryCitizen photo from a Green Hope football game in September.

Story by Nancy Caggia

Cary, NC – On New Year’s Day, Green Hope High School Marching Band will be performing at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville FL.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our students.”, said Bob Moore, GHHS Band Booster president.” They have worked very hard on their program since July, and now they get to perform it to a new audience in Florida.  The expense is big, and we still need support, but it is worth it for the kids!”

The game will be carried by CBS ( locally, that’s WRAL).

• The 113 member Green Hope High School band will leave on December 30 in the early hours of the morning. They will compete against 20 other schools to vie for a featured spot in the pre-game show. The Gator Bowl game starts at 1 p.m.
• All the competing bands have rehearsed a large group band performance for the half time show.
• The GHHS band will also participate in the Winn Dixie Gator Bowl parade competition on Dec. 31 at 3 p.m.

The Gator Bowl averaged 3.64 million household viewers in 2009 including the half time show. It is the sixth oldest college bowl, held continuously since 1946.

Drum corps performs with a member of the color guard

Thanks to Green Hope for providing us with this great news. The Green Hope Marching Band  competed at Sanderson High School two weeks ago at the Capital City Band Expo.  In prelims, they competed in class 3A and received the following awards:

• 1st place drum major
• 1st place guard, 1st place percussion
• 1st place general effect
• 1st place visual performance
• 1st place music
• 1st place in the class
• 4th place overall

In the finals round, they received an overall score of a 92.0 and 2nd place for the day. 

Congratulations are certainly in order for the Panther Creek High School Marching Band for taking 1st place in their 4A division in the Preliminary rounds and Grand Champion overall.

In addition, Green Hope’s last local competition was Cary Band Day on October 31.  

Members of the GHHS band and color guard pose with their award

At Cary Band Day Green Hope competed in  class 5A and won the following awards: 

• 2nd place drum major
•  3rd place colorguard,
• 1st place percussion
•  3rd place music
•  3rd place marching,
• 2nd place general effect
• 3rd place overall. 
• Won the Joey Lewis award for the best drumline of the day 

Next up:

Green Hope marches on toward the Gator Bowl over the New Year’s weekend!

Zach Hayes has taken some swell pictures of Cary Band Day. See for yourself.

Just another reason to love this town-

Cary High will host the 51st Cary Band Day this Saturday, Oct 31st (Halloween).

What is Cary Band Day for those that haven’t checked it out in the past? The Event has been held annually since 1958 and is  among the longest running high school marching band field competitions in the nation. To be sure, there will be a wide variety of floats from local businesses  and organizations.  And of course high school marching bands from around the Southeast. And again this year, former Band Director Jimmy Burns (1965-1977) and Drum Major Chris Branam will lead an alumni band as they march the parade route playing the Cary High Fight Song.

The official parade route is 1.3 miles (intersection of Academy and Chatham to intersection of Walnut and Cary Towne Blvd.) Crowds can gather in front of the Old Cary Elementary School and all along the parade route down Walnut Street to Cary High School.

Field Competing Bands are not required to march in the parade, however prizes are given to those bands in the parade. The Heart of Cary Award is the most impressive award any of these parade bands can win as this is judged by various alumni and citizens along the parade route. How’s that for small town feel?

The Band competition takes place at Cary High’s Cooper Stadium at the corner of Maynard and Walnut. Cary High School’s Concert Chorus will open the ceremonies at 11:50 and the marching bands begin playing at noon.  Cary High School Marching Band and Western Carolina University will perform two  exhibitions at 5:30 and 10:15 while the judges deliberate.  Larger bands begin to play at 7pm continuing until their awards at  10:45. What a day!

So if you’re new to the area, an old Cary High Alum, or just looking to be outdoors on a gorgeous fall day before all the Trick or Treating, go downtown and check out this historic event in the Heart of Cary.

For more info check out: Cary Band Day. More weekend events on the Calendar.

photo by Bobby Moore

Article provided by Nancy Caggia

The rain held off and two local Cary high school bands performed at the West Johnston High School Invitational Marching Band Competition this past Saturday, October 10.  Both Green Hope High School and Cary High School bands performed extremely well and there was only 1.9 points separating the final scores!

Photo by Scott Carrera

Green Hope performed their “The Road Less Travelled” show and received many awards in the top AAAA division: 1st place Drum Major, 1st place Percussion, 2nd place Marching; 3rd place Color Guard, 3rd place Music and 3rd place Effect and Overall award.  Some of the judge’s comments included: “Very nice approach to the instruments! (percussion)” “GREAT! (Woodwind accuracy)” “Well done front ensemble” “Tone Quality++ (woodwinds)”,“Good (emotion generated and maturity—color guard” “Strong woodwind feature moments” and “Enjoyed show!”

photo by Scott Carrera

Congratulations to the Cary High School band which was awarded overall Grand Champion of the evening of the 17 schools’ bands.  Also, in the AAAA division, Cary’s “American Revolution” show was also received top honors of 1st place.  Other awards included: 1st place Color Guard, 1st place Marching, 1st place Music, 2nd place Drum Major; and 2nd place Overall Effect.

Cape Fear High School’s “Hola a Dios” performance came in second in the AAAA Division overall and received the People’s Choice award with their colorful show and bird cage props!  Chapel Hill High School also participated in the top AAAA Divison with their show based on “Fiddler on the Roof.”  West Johnston did a performance of their “Modern Gothic” show.  It was a great autumn evening to watch all of our talented youths and congratulations to all of them!

Story provided by Nancy Caggia, photos provided by Kathy Goodson

Green Hope Marching Band has had two successful competitions with another one this Saturday, Oct, 10. at West Johnston High School.   The band director, Brian Myers, commented that he is “… extremely pleased with our performance and our progress thus far.   I believe we are well on our way to an outstanding season.  We have many more successes ahead of us! “

The first competition was on September 26, the Panther Creek Invitational.  While meeting the challenges of the rain and some complications in the sound system, Green Hope drum majors and percussion each took 1^st place .  Comments from the judges included:  “nice musical concepts”,  “excellent (audio/visual blend)”,  “well done (coordination/staging)” and “great woodwinds”.

This past Saturday, Oct. 3, Wakefield High School hosted The Heart of Carolina Marching Band Invitational.  In the preliminary round, Green Hope Marching Band won awards for 1st place drum major, 2nd place color guard, and 3rd place band.  They placed fifth after the finals round, and also won the award for most outstanding music for the day. Brian Myers commented to the band members that “we can all agree that our finals performance was the best performance yet.”

Good luck this weekend at West Johnston High School!

Additional photos added here by Bob Moore-

Green Hope Band's Brass performs with Color Guard

Photo by Kathy Goodson

This article is completed from information provided by Nancy Caggia.

While many children began school this week, 15,120 hours have already been put in by the Green Hope High School Marching Band.  The ultimate goal of the GHMB is to perform their show at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL this New Years Day.

This year’s show theme is “The Road Less Traveled”, which is based on the famous poem by Robert Frost.  Bits of Beethoven’s music are weaved into each song referring to the difficult road this famous composer encountered on his path to greatness.

The first home game performance will be at tonight’s Green Hope Football Game.  The regular Marching Band season will include 5 football games and 5 competitions by the end of October.

The road to the Gator Bowl has already begun for these students.  This will be the first national exposure this High School band program will experience, but it comes with a cost.  The Band Boosters are offering many opportunities to help the Marching Band achieve it’s goal of making it to the Gator Bowl.  If you want to help please check out the Green Hope Marching Band‘s website for more information.  Come show your support for the Marching Falcon’s from Green Hope High School as they perform.