Receiving 4 Stars in every category, the South Portland Marching Band showed that they truly are "Far and Away" the best band in the State.

 

4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4

 

By Louise Strout

We would like to wish a hearty congratulations to Craig Skeffington and the South Portland High School Marching Band for their brilliant season and their gold medal win at the finals last night at Lawrence High School.  South Portland's perfect score was well deserved.  These young people are some of the best we have to offer.  Their music directors have taken these teenagers and installed enough discipline, precision, volume and gusto into their performance that resulted in one win after another. These kids really enjoy themselves and it shows.  Standing ovations for these kids were not uncommon at these competitions.
 
Watching their performance, it is hard to believe that these are just our regular neighborhood kids who just happen to share the love of music.  They've practiced for years (not just for a season) in order to be good enough for these competitions and have represented their school with excellence.  This year they proved their excellence with scores (as we followed and calculated by number of points received), ranking as follows:
 
Tied for 1st place - competitions at Lewiston
Tied for 1st place - competitions at Marshwood
First place - competitions at Portsmouth, NH
First place - competitions at Old Orchard Beach
First place - MICCA, Northeast Regional competitions at Wakefield, MA
Gold medal - Dedham, MA
Finals - 1st place, perfect score (4 STARS), gold medal - MBDA FINALS, Lawrence H.S.
 
IT DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!
 
If you haven't had the opportunity to witness their performance in person you can find it at www.southportlandmusicboosters.org , the Music Booster's website.
 
If you haven't done so already, we hope you will take the opportunity to recognize these young people, their director, staff and the magnificent work of the South Portland's Music Boosters.