For the past few years, our award-winning Hernando Band has traveled and participated in Bands of America (BOA) regional competitions. In 2021, they competed in their show The Rose that Grew from Concrete in Jacksonville, Alabama. The next year, they returned to Jacksonville with their show Gates of Byzantium. 2022 was also the year they returned to the BOA Super Regional in St. Louis, Missouri. The last time they had competed in St. Louis was 2019 with their show Shere Khan. BOA Super Regional competitions are larger than regular BOA Regionals and feature more competitive high school bands from a larger chunk of the country. Last year, our band attended the new BOA Memphis Regional with their show Vintage ‘23. Vintage ’23 also made an appearance at the 2023 St. Louis Super Regional.
October is always packed full of hard work from the students involved in the Hernando Band. They practice Monday-Friday each week and typically compete on Saturdays. This year has been no different even with the weather conflicts from recent hurricanes. Although the rain caused delays in finishing the drill of this year’s production Razzmatazz, Mr. Killough, head director of the band, put focus on learning the show musically while being stuck inside. Nevertheless, on October 5th, the Liberty Bowl Stadium in Memphis (TN) hosted its second BOA Regional event. The Hernando Band, determined and ready to compete again, attended and did not disappoint. Placed second in their class in preliminary performance along with an Outstanding Music award and advancing to perform later that night in finals. After giving it their all in the final performance, our band happily finished in third place overall
In the weeks leading up to the next event, every student on the field put in hours of work. Even showing up on fall break to rehearse and learn the last bits of drill. On October 26th, our band traveled to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in the 2024 St. Louis BOA Super Regional. Everybody showed up super early and very tired. Already experiencing issues early in the morning, the band was put behind schedule. After their preliminary run, the band eagerly waited for their scores. Everybody was on the edge of their seats after class ranks were announced. Unfortunately, our band did not make finals. This BOA Super Regional event allows the top 14 bands from prelims into finals and our band finished 16th. Placing just .4 of a point away from the last band in finals. Although not making finals was disappointing to members of the band, they are not done yet. State Championships are November 2nd, and the Hernando Band is going to push every second to the end.
