Ash Grove High School band brings home the hardware—all season

District grabs first place at Missouri State parade, topping 19 other music programs
The Ash Grove band has had much success this marching season, winning first place in each of their contests except for one, including taking home the “Triple Crown” for the year. Band Director Michelle Carter said that the district’s 8-12 band is one of the best in the state.
The marching band begins in August; they hit the ground running from there, working on their competitive and pep band music and adding their Christmas and Veteran’s Day tunes later. In total, there are five competitive parades at which area bands compete, ending their season in December. The Ash Grove band won first place in four of them, taking home third in the other.
The first three parades the band attended this year combined to offer the Triple Crown trophy; the band with the most total points at the end of the three parades will take home the title. It began in Marionville in September, where the band took home first. After that is Stockton, where the band also took first. Finally, there was Pleasant Hope, where the band placed third.
“At Pleasant Hope, we didn’t have a good performance; you don’t get four quarters, a first or second half; you get one shot in front of the judge,” Carter said.
This winning record doesn’t mean the competition is lax, though. In one parade taking place at Missouri State University during homecoming, the band took home first in their class, beating out 19 other band programs, according to Carter. This competition is magnified by the fact that the Ash Grove band includes members from junior high school.
“Sometimes we have to compete with those bands who are 9–12, so they are older and have a little bit of an advantage with an extra year of experience,” she said. “You have to earn it every single time.”
Carter said that instrumentation is one of the most important keys to success. She said that her band is lucky to have each section of instruments filled out, giving their tunes a more complete sound. This is a problem that small schools can run into often, sometimes missing the personnel for an entire group of instruments altogether.
“We may be small, but we’re mighty, and I want them to have the same experience as any big school’s band,” she said.
Carter’s philosophy is what leads this band forward.
“When we march, I try to teach good posture and uniformity; look good, play good,” she said.
Uniformity can be hard to teach to high schoolers, said Carter.
“It’s hard to get that across to teenagers that you have to look exactly like the next one,” she said. “They have to learn to express their individuality somewhere that isn’t marching band.”
Carter said that it is her goal for those who graduate from her band program to be able to go to college if they choose. She said that her students work like no one else in the school.
“They really put the time in,” she said. “They understand that no matter what, we have to get the job done and represent this school.”