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By Jason Liu
South Pasadena High School’s Tiger Marching Band and Color Guard recently traveled to El Camino College in Torrance to compete in the SoCal Super Show, one of the largest competitions of the year.
The Tigers received a score of 74.500, a slight reduction in score from the 75.050 earned two weeks prior in another competition. It was a disappointing outcome for the band, as South Pasadena had not had a decrease in score from one week to another in recent history.
Many factors contributed to the unsatisfying mark, according to band members, including technical mishaps with soloist microphones, translating into subpar scores in the music category.
However, the Tigers’ color guard stepped up and earned the group’s highest placing caption, second place overall in auxiliary. Color guard captain Calla Timmerman had high praise for the unit. “Color guard has grown over the years and this is one of the biggest groups I’ve ever performed with,” said the senior. “We are such a tight-knit group this year and I believe that’s what defines us… This year we have a very positive outlook on the season, and I have no doubt that it is only going to get better. I’m proud to say that we have been working extremely hard this year, and we look forward to improving and being the best we can be as a color guard.”
Band members say they are not allowing their El Camino College performance to discourage them from achieving loftier ambitions of qualifying for the upcoming WBA Grand Championships in Fresno.
Following the SoCal Super Show hosted by Orange County’s Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo. The Tigers brought back a score of 77.850, a sizeable 3.35-point increase over their last competition.
The band continues to refine and perfect its overall performance. As the end of the 2019 fall marching season draws near, one senior reflected on her final year on the band, Sarah Zenas saying, “This season has been different than we all expected. We started off the year kind of pessimistic because of how we finished last year, but as time went on we became more optimistic as we all continued to improve. I don’t think we’ve come as far yet this season as we would have liked to, but we still have time and I really believe we can step it up for our last competition.”
