What to Expect on a Marching Band Weekend

MARCHING BAND Competitions – What should I expect? (2023 version)

Here is an overview of each competition for the 2023 Penn Marching Band Season and a few scheduling tips from previous years. Mr. Northern will publish the detailed schedule 7 – 10 days before each competition. Every student must be at every competition. If a student is not there it compromises the entire band.

Thursday, August 10 – Family and Community Preview Show (Freed Field, 7:00 PM). You don’t want to miss this! We will get to see a portion of the show that our kids have worked so hard on during band camp. There will also be great information and other items available. This is a free event, and anyone is welcome to attend. (HINT: A great time to bring grandparents because it is a shorter time frame than a big competition.)

Football games: 8/25, 9/8, 9/15, 9/29, 10/13 (Senior Night), and 10/27 (and sometimes a playoff game) – Students typically need to be in uniform and on the baseball field for warm-up by 6 PM. The students will warm-up and rehearse until a little before game time. Then they march over to the football field and play the national anthem and the fight song. They will move to the north end zone and play as a pep band until they go out to line-up for the half-time show. The Front Ensemble will often leave during the first quarter to go into the CPA and collect all their equipment. The band will perform the half-time show. During the 3rd quarter, they will have a chance to go to the concession stand and take a break. They need to be back in the south end zone by the beginning of the 4th quarter. At the end of the game, they need to take care of their uniforms and any equipment. This may also include moving props back to the barn. Uniform note: On occasion they may be instructed to wear their “summer uniform”. This means they will wear their “show shirt” that was issued at the 8/10 Family and Community Preview, tall black sock, marching shoes, and khaki shorts for instrumentalist and black shorts for Color Guard. You should make sure you purchase a pair of khaki shorts this summer as sometimes they are hard to find by late August. (I have had good luck at Goodwill!)

September 9 at Goshen - expect rehearsal to start mid-morning and board the buses around dinner time, then we will travel to Goshen and the competition is in the evening.

September 16 at Concord– expect rehearsal to start mid-morning and board the buses around dinner time, then we will travel to Concord. The competition is in the evening.

September 23 – Carnival of Bands and WE NEED ALL PARENTS TO VOLUNTEER! Expect your students to be busy all day.

October 7 – ISSMA Regional at Lafayette Jefferson High School. Rehearsal mid-morning at Penn, eat at Penn, perform early evening, and arrive back at Penn around 11 PM.

October 21 – ISSMA Semi-State at Ben Davis HS near Indy. Typically, we leave Penn late morning and eat lunch in Kokomo. We normally perform around dinner time and stay for the awards ceremony which puts us home around midnight. We have always made it to this competition. THIS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT COMPETITION OF THE SEASON! Note this is during Fall Break.

October 28 – ISSMA State Finals in Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis. If we make it in the top 10 at the Semi-State competition, we will be going. Expect to have a rehearsal mid-morning then leave early in the after. We will stay for the awards and return around 2 – 3 AM on Sunday. Some families choose to stay in Indy.

Note about collecting your child at the end of a competition: You can choose to have your child ride home with you from a competition. Once Mr. Northern has made announcements and they have taken care of their uniform and instrument, you can check your child out with the bus chaperone. Please make sure you sign the chaperone’s clip board before you leave with your child. 

Updated 5/29/23 – Sheri Campeau mikeandsheri99@gmail.com