The Lincoln-Way North High School Marching Phoenix finished their competitive season Oct. 29 with a big win, taking first in their class at the State of Illinois Invitational High School Marching Band Championship held at Illinois State University.
“The pursuit of excellence is the only goal we have here,” said Bert Johnson, the music department chair at Lincoln-Way North. “Although the outcome was outstanding, the students, parents and audience got to see that tonight.”
The 114-member band and color guard joined 44 other bands from throughout the state at the daylong competition. They performed their field show “Bedouin Journey,” which explores a sojourn through the North African/Moroccan desert.
The band, led by drum majors Eli Ramirez and Morgan Boman, competed in the Class 4A category of the competition based on its size.
Judges rated each band in music, visual and general effect categories.
The Marching Phoenix placed 1st in its division (Class 4A) and picked up caption awards for Best Music and General Effect as well as Crowd Appeal.
Their performance propelled the band into the finals portion of the competition later that night. In that phase of the competition, the Marching Phoenix placed 3rd overall out of 14 bands.
“This show is a monumental production and our music parents are a very large part of our success,” said Johnson. “Without them and our administration's support we could not pull this kind of large scale visual production off.”
Area residents will have an opportunity to see the Marching Phoenix perform their award winning show at a Marching Band Showcase to be held tonight at 7 p.m. at Lincoln-Way Central.
