PA Bands

Home | Members only! | Merchandise | Messageboard/ Forum | Chatroom | BOA | TRWEA | WGI | Links | PIMBA

Because They're That Good

Welcome to PA Bands, the only official site for Pennsylvania Bands, covering PA Bands at local competitions, BOA Regional Championships, and BOA Grand National Championships.  This is a totally free, user supported website for all PA Bands.

 

Marching band in Pennsylvania is quickly becoming a competitive sport.  The number of marching units in PA has significantly increased in the past several years, and PA bands are once again starting to be seen in finals at very competitive BOA Regionals.  With the number of bands beginning to compete at regional competitions, it will not be long before people begin to look at PA as a strong marching-art state.

 

It is the personal goal of the PA Bands Moderators, to promote the marching-arts and music education throughout the state of Pennsylvania.  Although, PA Bands is located out of south-western PA it is our hope that one day, bands from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Scranton, and Harrisburg can compete against each other in a truly statewide event.  Many local circuits have “state championships,” however; there is not ONE true championship for the entire state of Pennsylvania.  It would be a truly educational and inspirational experience if bands from the west of the state could see bands from the east of the state at least once a year.  The local circuits are great because the travel takes a lot less time, but one trip a year to compete against some of the best marching bands in the nation would be amazing.  In several years, PA Bands would like to see one state championship held in a central location, where all bands are invited.

NEW TO THE SITE!
We have four pages for your availability right now for local, state, and national marching circuts.  We will be adding new info to each page as new info becomes available.

Competitive V. Non-Competitive

 

Although this site mainly focuses on competitive forms of marching and features competitive units, we must not leave out the non-competitive marching units.  There are many schools that do not compete in PIMBA or BOA or any other circuit because their band directors feel it is unnecessary.  These schools feature some of the best musicians and marchers in the state of Pennsylvania.  These groups have lots of fun putting together a show for football games, non-competitive festivals, and local parades.  The moderators of Pa Bands highly respect all non-competitive marching units; however, it is our feeling that competition is the key for the strive toward excellence.

 

An old proverb says “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”  We are not saying non-competitive bands don’t perform greatly (many do, most do better than some competitive units).  We are rather saying that competition pushes performers to do their best every time they put on their uniform.  If a band has the right instructors they can push their unit to do their best all the time, but the feeling you get after a competition when the stadium is cheering for you, is a motivation preceded by none.

 

The reward after a competition is not the trophies or the final score, but rather the feeling after performing your very best in front of a crowd eagerly awaiting your show.  The feeling is not the same as that after a football game because at football games, half the people are there to see the game.  The feeling is indescribable.  This feeling is what pushes most of the members of our marching affiliation (which will remain nameless).  Although we a have great staff that writes awesome music for us to perform, and we have trophies in our band room, it is the feeling after a great performance that makes our marching experience amazing.

 

We are not trying to put down non-competitive marching units.  Rather we would like to share our experiences with everyone.  We would love to see many great “half-time performers” come out on a Saturday evening just to have the experience of marching at a competition.  We know you’ll love it because Pa Bands are just that good.

 

-Pa Bands Moderators

Contact the Pabands Webmaster

 

Copyright 2006 PaBands. All rights reserved.