Lucas Oil Stadium and the ISSMA Marching Band State Finals certainly aren’t new to our Fairfield Marching Pride. While still chasing after the magical class championship, FMP will give it another crack this weekend in the Class C State Championships with a vibrant performance with a lot of new faces to the championship scene.
A year ago, Fairfield made its 27th state finals appearance with a very moving and powerful ‘Speak’ performance. Leaving it all on the stadium surface, FMP entered with their mouths taped shut and exited the stadium in a confluence of face paint dripping into trails of jubilant tears. They felt like they had done everything possible, and were rewarded with a fourth-place finish. While not overthrowing defending state champion Edgewood or catching backyard rival NorthWood, overjoyed tears and a sense of ‘we nailed it’ were still the lasting memories from a brilliant performance.
For most, including a very strong senior class now graduated, nailing the performance was enough. But for those coming back, there is a little more to prove.
“We have some really great moments and a consistent visual for our show,” said FMP drum major Zeke Cunningham. “We have some places we can work on musically, specifically in part one. If we can hold it together for a whole show with our passion and the cleanliness, I think we can pull through and get up there in the rankings.”
The 2024 showcase is called ‘Wild Ones’ with yet another in-your-face ensemble. Demonstrating wilderness scenes and stealthy movements, FMP and its equally present color guard take you through the jungle, across the plains and into a safari ride where the wild ones are. Continuing to appeal to the eyes as well as the ears, music directors Mykayla Roskos-Neilson and Dakota Pederson along with guard directors Jen Buckholz and Melissa Shull have fused together quite an entertaining performance.
“We started doing warmups together as a band and guard and all learned the same thing,” said Megan Rosenbrock, who is just one of two guard seniors along with Bea Mast. “The things that really make the show exciting is the acting, the movements. We spend a lot of time working on the theatre of the show, and spend a lot of time away from practice hanging out and bonding as a group. It really helps us all feel like we are on the same page.”
Fairfield has earned a handful of ‘Best Visual’ accolades this fall in competition, and Cunningham is hoping his bandmates step up to take a few more accolades and raise up the standings.
“We have a great visual package provided by our directors as well as Adam (Shull), he’s our visual director and writer, he knows how to teach it to us. From there, it’s up to everybody to live it every second, put in their all and make sure it’s all at the level we need it to be.”
Fairfield is performing in its 28th ISSMA Marching Band State Finals overall, 2024 being the 15th straight appearance for FMP in the C and D classes, and the overall appearances have all come since 1990, missing just six state finals in that stretch. Fairfield was fourth a year ago after tying for fifth in 2022 and placing second in Class D in 2021. Fairfield has finished runner-up twice, in 2015 (Class C) and in 2021 (Class D).
Fairfield has finished within the top five 13 times, and the three-straight top fives for the program have seniors like Rosenbrock itching to finish her career on a high note.
“The number one focus for us is to always get better every week, and achieving personal bests,” Rosenbrock said. “If you go to state and do your best run you’ve ever had, and that happens to be first or tenth, it’s a win to us. Last year, we got fourth and it felt like a win. You’ll leave here not remembering what place, but the time spent performing and the friends that you’ve made.”
Tickets for the ISSMA Marching Band State Finals can be purchased here:
https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/05006117B2EF8981
The order of performances for Class C are:
Boonville Band of Gold 4:40 p.m.
Edgewood Marching Mustangs
NorthWood Red Regiment
Northwestern Tiger Pride
Princeton Marching Tigers
Western Marching Panthers
Northview Marching Knights
Concordia Marching Cadets
Angola Marching Hornets
Fairfield Marching Pride 6:55 p.m.
Awards 7:10 p.m.