On Oct. 15, ETSU hosted one of the Bands of America regional championships.

The competition comprised of 20 bands, ranging in location from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kentucky, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Georgia and Florida. Local bands competed from Elizabethton High School and Dobyns-Bennett High School.

“We are thrilled to host this event and meet the many talented students participating,” said Dr. Joe Moore, director of athletic bands and an associate professor in the Department of Music at ETSU in a press release. “It is difficult to overstate what an honor this is, and especially what it means for the community and the Appalachian Highlands.”

The East Tennessee State University Marching Bucs helped to curate and volunteer to help run the event as well. Volunteers from “Visit Johnson City” helped as well while the Marching Bucs performed.

The Marching Bucs gave a special exhibition performance of their show, “Playing with Fire.” They performed as exhibition at the end of the preliminary round at 4:15 p.m.

12 out of 20 bands made finals, and Kingsport local Dobyns-Bennett came in first place with an overall score of 88.700. Local band Elizabethton High School came in fourth place with a score of 81.800.

(Contributed/ETSU Marching Bucs)

Coincidentally, Marching Bucs member Dalton Markley of the trombone section got the chance to share this experience with his brother, Samuel Markley, who is a member of the North Lincoln High School band who also participated in the competition. Dalton spoke on this special opportunity.

“It was nice to finally be able to march on the same field as my brother. Because of COVID, we never had the opportunity to march together in high school like we had wanted, so to finally perform in the same place, even in different bands, was really special,” said Dalton Markley.

Overall, each year, the Bands of America Regional Competition continues to grow in success and be a large recruiting event for the university as well.

For more information on upcoming ETSU Music events, please check out https://www.etsu.edu/cas/music/.

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