ROGERS — The parking lot at Rogers High School could have easily been mistaken for the staging area of a really large parade last week when 22 marching bands from across the region gathered to strut their stuff at the Region One Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association Marching Band Assessment.

The annual event has taken place in Springdale for 20 years, but everyone was impressed when Band Director Bill Rowan invited them to the new Rogers football stadium. The event will probably come back sometime in the future, he predicted.

Three judges, all band directors from other schools, took seats in the press box to watch the performances. As the bands played, the judges made comments that were later transcribed for each band director, Rowan explained.

It can be difficult to judge a marching event, Rowan said. He’s been a judge in other regions, and there’s always a lot to take in at once. Many of the bands have their own flag corps and baton twirlers, which can take attention away from the marching and the music. He was pleased with the judges at last week’s assessment. They were tough, but they did a good job, he said.

It’s not really a contest, he explained.

The bands don’t compete against each other. Each is assessed with half the possible points given for music, 30 percent for basic marching and 10 percent each for special drills and overall effect. The final score puts them in one of five divisions.

Rogers High School was awarded a second division rating, and Rowan was happy with that.

“It was the best performance we had all year,” he said. Some bands go to many marching contests, but Rowan prefers to concentrate on performances. They won’t go to any other marching assessments, but they’ll perform at a few more football games and they’ll keep working to improve.

Community, Pages 9 on 10/28/2009

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