On Sept. 17, the Madison marching band attended the regional Bands of America (BOA) competition in Monroeville, Pa. where 25 high school marching bands from all over the East Coast came to perform and show off their musical excellence. With all their hard work and practice, Madison’s marching band placed first in their class during the preliminary rounds and secured fourth place overall at the BOA competition.

“It is highly competitive, and every practice we are reminded that the other bands are practicing to beat us,” leader of the lower brass section Alex Kyereboah (’18) said.

Rivalries tend to sprout between the competing bands at the annual event such as the one between Norwin, Kiski and Madison High School, which attracts the most attention and anticipation as they are among the top bands from the East Coast.

“As we go up to our competitions and we see each other, everyone is always wondering who’s going to beat who. We always tend to come very close,” trumpet section leader Alex Stas (’18) said. “Over the past couple years, it has been getting much closer as we have become more competitive in our marching band program.”

Despite having a band camp that is only half as long as those of Norwin and Kiski, the Madison marching band continues to push themselves harder in the hopes of surpassing their two highly contested rivals.

“Norwin and Kiski have beaten us for many years but slowly we have been getting 3rd place by a smaller and smaller margin until now when we are neck and neck and have a chance at actually beating them,” drum major Eva Varghese (’17) said.