The marching band at Davenport Central High is in Indianapolis this weekend for the “Bands of America” Grand National championship. Director Ted Reicher says it’s not just a musical competition, it’s for marching bands.The kids will “perform” about 75 pictures during the eight-minute performance, and only stand still for 30 seconds of that time. Reicher says it takes plenty of work to prepare for this contest. He started writing the music for his band two years ago.He got permission from Warner Brothers to use music from the film “Gettysburg” and arranged it for marching band. The band has 166 members, and only three members will miss this weekend’s competition because they’re in a sports playoff.Reicher says the band has a great parent booster group and good crowds come to concerts by the band. Reicher doesn’t expect to win the National Championship, but he says the experience will show the band where it needs to improve. Reicher says as far as he knows this is the first time an Iowa high-school marching band has ever gone to the Bands of America competition.
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