The Gustine High School Marching Band and Color Guard have continued to shine this marching season. October, or as band enthusiasts dub “Band-tober”, is the busiest month for competing marching bands.  The Gustine Reds have been no exception as they have continued to march on through the busy weekends.  High school bands, such as Gustine’s, often have late night Friday Football Games followed by early morning competitions. This makes for busy weekends all season long.

Currently, the band has competed three times this season. Divisions are decided based on band size, not school size.  This year the band is competing as a 2A band with 36-50 members. Each competition is evaluated by a panel of judges that critique music (2 judges), marching (2 judges), and showmanship (2 judges). Separate judges critique the drum major (1 judge) and colorguard (2 judges). The scores are then calculated and divided accordingly in each division, based out of a possible 100 points.

At the Preview of Champions competition on September 27th, with a score of 74.55, the Reds placed 5th out of 6 in their division, as did colorguard. At the 55th Annual Santa Cruz Band Review on October 18th, with a score of 75, they placed 4th out of 13 in their division, with colorguard placing 5th. At this past weekend’s Foothill Band Review on October 25th, with a score of 72.45, they placed 3rd out of 4 in their division, and colorguard placed 2nd.

The next, and final, competition for the Marching Reds this season is the Central California Band Review in Merced on November 8th. The parade competition is free to observe; chairs are encouraged to watch the parade near the judges stand in the competition zone outside of Golden Valley High School.