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By Robert Gunning WCS Band Director
The Royal Regiment Marching Band from Whitmire Community School has always had their work cut out for them. This competitive marching band from one of the smallest schools in the state overcomes obstacles every time they perform.
“It is amazing that our school even has a marching band,” declares band director Rob Gunning. “It is even more amazing that we can compete, and many times win!” Such was the case as the Royal Regiment Marching Band took off with their competitive season this fall.
“We were concerned that our band was going to be smaller this year, since we graduated so many Seniors last year, and had so few rookies coming in,” explained Drum Major Alana Pitts. “But we kept a positive attitude, and never gave up,” she added.
The competition season started on Saturday, October 3, when the band traveled to Pendleton High School for the Pride of Pendleton Marching Contest. Since many contests divide their classifications by the size of the band, Whitmire found themselves competing against bands from significantly larger school sizes, Abbeville, a much larger Class 1-A school, Liberty, a Class 2-A school, and Berea, a class 3-A school. But it was Whitmire that took 1st place in the competition, and also brought home a Best Horn Line award for the highest music score in their class.
But the day didn’t end there for our band at Pendleton. Because of their 1st place finish, Whitmire was selected to perform again that evening in the finals competition, against the 1st place bands from the other three classes, as well as the next four highest scoring bands of the day. Though the band received 8th place in the finals field of 8, performing in that situation was one of the most memorable highlights of the marching season.
The band traveled to Chesnee High School for the Chesnee Eagle Classic on Saturday October 17, for their second band competition. Again the band found themselves competing with bands from larger schools, Newberry, a Class 2-A school, and Eastside, a class 3-A school. And once again the 1st Place trophy went to Whitmire, along with another Best Horn Line trophy.
The following week, on Saturday, October 24, the band faced their toughest challenge of the season, the SC Upper State 1-A Championships at Clinton High School. Though they would be competing against bands only from 1-A classified schools, the Royal Regiment had to place in the top six in a field of 10 bands to advance to the state marching band championships. The competition was fierce, but the Royal Regiment attained their goal with a 6th Place finish.
The SC 1-A State Marching Band Championships were held on Saturday, October 31, at Woodmont High School near Greenville. The top six bands from the Upper State competition were matched with the top six bands from the Lower State competition held the week before. The Whitmire Band was determined to place well, and had some excellent rehearsals leading up to that performance. “In many aspects we had our best performance of the season,” declared Band Major Andrew Gunning. “We were definitely pumped up to show the state what we were made of.”
The band received 10th Place in the state of all 1-A classified schools in the state of South Carolina. “All things considered, this has been an amazing marching band season,” Mr. Gunning exclaimed. “We feel extremely proud to represent our school, community, and county in such a favorable way.”
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