The Pride of the Panthers Marching Band is the face of the Lakeside Bands and is the largest student activity at Lakeside High School, annually comprised of around 170 students. This ensemble provides entertainment at all home and away football games and competes several weekends during the fall semester, presenting a competitive program made up of custom musical arrangements, custom drill, and choreography. The band travels to all away games (occasionally as a pep band instead of full band), to various locations across the southeast for competitions, and performs annually in the Columbia County Christmas Parade. The band is one of the most competitively successful in the CSRA, regularly winning class and grand champion awards and recently earning recognition as a the CSRA's first Bands of America Regional Finalist in 2021 and a Georgia Marching Band Collective Finalist in 2023. The band also been featured in live performances with country music superstars and LHS alumni Lady A and nationally-touring performance project The Black Jacket Symphony. (you can read more about some of our more noteworthy accomplishments below).
This ensemble is co-curricular (part of our in-class curriculum) and meets as a whole for after school practices three days a week and as needed prior to football games and competitions. The marching band is comprised of four main sections: woodwinds, brass, percussion, and color guard. The marching woodwind section utilizes all woodwind instruments besides double reeds and other specialized concert instruments. The marching brass section substitutes mellophones for french horns, marching baritones for euphoniums and trombones, and sousaphones for tubas. Woodwind and brass students whose primary instruments are not used in field performance consult with the directors to determine the most appropriate secondary instrument. The marching percussion section is made up of two main sub-sections: the front ensemble, which features keyboard percussion instruments and many common orchestral percussion instruments, and the battery, which includes marching snare drums, marching tenors (or "quads") and marching bass drums. The color guard is the primary visual performance section of the band, combining elements of flag work, rifle work, and dance; you can learn more about this section here.
During the spring semester, a tentative schedule for the following fall marching season is distributed along with a prospective member letter and commitment form. The commitment form details the expectations of a marching band member regarding attendance, supplies, etc. Membership in the marching band depends on meeting the expectations detailed on the commitment form. Repeated infractions of the commitment can result in removal from performances, being moved to an alternate position for the current or future seasons, or revoked membership altogether. Unlike most team activities, marching band depends on the attendance and preparedness of every individual member of the group. When one member fails to do their job, around 200 other people suffer the consequences.
MILESTONES & ACHIEVEMENTS
Bands of America Regional Finalist - 2021, 2022, 2023
Georgia Marching Band Collective Finalist - 2023, 2024
South Effingham Marching Mustang Invitational Grand Champion - 2024
Midland Valley Mustang Classic Grand Champion - 2022
McBee Sandhills Classic Grand Champion - 2021
Performance in the 2026 Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C. for America's Semisesquicentennial
Performance in the 2023 Pearl Harbor Parade in Honolulu, HI
Performance with nationally-touring performance project The Black Jacket Symphony in 2023
Performance with country music superstars (and LHS alumni) Lady A in 2010