The Spirit of Madison Marching Band had a historic 2025 season, making finals in Orange City, IA, and the Festival of Bands in Sioux Falls, SD. After such a remarkable season, what comes next?
Concert Band starts right away as school resumes for the spring semester, and the band performs twice: once at the Large Group Contest in Harrisburg on Wednesday, April 22, and the following day at their spring concert on Thursday, April 23. Pep Band starts right away as well, with every member also performing at boys’ and girls’ basketball games, one of those nights being a special night when the middle school band joins the high school band to perform for the game.
The optional band activities include Jazz Band, Honor Band, All-State Band, and Solo & Ensemble Contest.
The Jazz Band meets every Monday and Wednesday morning from 7:30-8:05, practicing three different songs to perform at various jazz competitions, a special jazz performance at the high school, and the spring concert that the concert band and various choir groups perform at as well.`
Honor Band and All-State Band are audition-only groups in which participants must audition for a spot. The Honor Band is less strict than the All-State Band and performs at South Dakota State University on Saturday, February 28. All-State Band pulls the best students from the entire state and requires a much more vigorous audition process than the Honor Band, involving more complex rhythms, scales, and pieces to perform.
Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/spiritofmadisonband/
Solo & Ensemble Contest is the last optional band activity, and is an event at Augustana University on Monday, February 2. The event includes many solos, duets, trios, ensembles, and any other combination of instruments and musicians you can think of. Performers are assessed and given a score depending on how well they performed, the highest rating being superior.