The West Salem marching band is one of the most dominant bands in the PNW. Ever since Todd Zimbelman’s arrival in 2008, West has consistently placed in the top 3 almost every year – along with many first-place awards.
This year, the band premiered its show, “Web of Dreams”, a dream-like production featuring songs such as “Dream On” by Aerosmith, “Meditation” by Jules Massenet, and the Overture to “School for Scandal” by Samuel Barber.
The band performed at 4 competitions and placed as follows:
Pacific Coast Invitational (Sprague): 2nd place
Pacific Northwest Marching Band Championships (Mead, Washington): 2nd place
West Salem Marching Festival – Bands of America (West Salem): Exhibition
Northwest Association for Performing Arts (NWAPA): 3rd Place
While West hasn’t brought home a championship since 2017, their second-year director, Mr. Francis, is quite hopeful that he will be able to get the band back to the standard it was at in the 2010s. He hopes to accomplish this by growing numbers through events like the middle school Fall Band night, an event where Straub and Walker band students perform at the football game, alongside the band.
Though the band didn’t get first place at any of their competitions, they still had an impressive season. They even won the High Visual award at championships, naming them the most visually clean band that performed.
A big highlight of the season was the West Salem Marching Festival, which was hosted at home. It was the second annual festival and brought in a lot of revenue for the band. While most festivals in the area perform under NWAPA, this one was under Bands of America, Music for All. The highest standard for high school marching bands in the country is graded under BOA. Mr. Francis is hopeful that he can bring more BOA competitions to the state to grow the competition in Oregon.
Mr. Zimbelman and Mr. Francis were able to get the best judges for this festival. Judges all over the country, and even one from Canada, came in and gave the best advice and criticisms for the band. This was a great opportunity for the students and the directors to improve their show.
Mr. Francis is excited on how the festival will continue to grow and expand in the coming years.
Congratulations to all the members of the band on a great season!