Dear Band Director:

I’m excited to invite you to the 4th Annual St. Charles West Marching Band Festival to be held on September 21, 2013! Our festival will be a prelims/finals format and will be held on the campus of St. Charles West High School at Steve Stahl Stadium with our newly installed sport turf field! Bands will be classified by size, specifically number of musicians including percussionists.

New this year, we will be hiring an independent panel of judges to be announced at a later date. Bands will be awarded placements in each classification, plus captions for best music, best visual, best percussion, and best guard in each class. The class winners, plus the next highest scoring bands totaling 10 bands will qualify for an open finals competition in the evening. Modifications to the number of finalists may be made depending on enrollment. In finals competition, bands will receive placement awards and the same captions that are awarded in the preliminary round. Percussion and Color Guard scores will factor in to the band’s total score in both prelims and finals.

Scheduling preferences will be given to last years Grand Champion and class winners only. All other bands will be scheduled by application date. If a previous class winner moves up or down and creates a situation where two previous class winners are in the same class, application date will be used to determine how those bands are scheduled as well. Bottom line, sign up early!

As with any festival, our number one concern is to make sure the bands in attendance are provided with a high quality, educational experience. Now entering our 4th season hosting this event, I’m excited about some of the changes we’re making based on directors feedback and I think returning bands will appreciate the modifications. If you’ve never been to our event before, I hope you’ll consider attending this year. I know how new festivals can be uncomfortable for some, but in each of our first three years, nearly 80% of our enrollment have been returning bands and I am grateful for those who have taken a chance on this new festival and have continued to support it!

Applications will be due on August 16th or when the event is full. We are capping the event at 24 bands this year. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. I hope to see you on September 21st!

Sincerely,

Ben Meyer
Director of Bands
St. Charles West High School
636.443.4247
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