A History of the OMEA Marching Band Finals

Taken from the 1997 OMEA State Marching Band Finals Program

Band competition has been a part of the school scene in Ohio since the early part of the century.  The forerunners of the OMEA, the Ohio High School Band Association, and the Ohio School Band and Orchestra Association were all formed, at least in part, to foster competition in the State.  Following the success of the Fostoria, Ohio Boys Band, in winning the first national band contest in 1923 held in Chicago, the Ohio High School Band Association was formed by Fostoria director, John W. Wainwright.  Ohio's first contest was held in 1924 in Fostoria with eight bands in attendance.  Prize money was supplied by the music industry including Barnhouse Publishers and Conn Instrument Company.  There were four adjudicators in these early contests.  By 1928 three adjudicators commented on the groups' intonation, instrumentation, tone and harmonic balance, tone quality, precision and interpretation, and a fourth judged the band in sight reading.  In 1932 the newly-formed Ohio Music Education Association stated among its goals, "the promotion of the State-wide contests in vocal and instrumental music."  Furthermore, when OMEA affiliated with MENC (Music Educators National Conference) in 1934, the two groups' statement concerning contests mentioned that the purpose of these contests is to promote education through music.

The Contest Committee of OMEA was formed in 1934 for the purpose of overseeing contest operations in Ohio.  The committee recommended in 1935 that these contests deviate from practice of assigning ratings and points for the bands' performances and begin using a "ratings only" method of adjudication.   In 1936 the committee recommended that the State adopt a "five rating plan".  The former six rating plan included the levels "superior, excellent, very good, good, fair and poor".  Each of these levels was assigned points with a superior worth 10, excellent 7, very good, 4, good 2, fair, 1, and poor 0.   The new system deleted the "very good" category, as well as doing away with the point system.  The sight reading rating could lower the overall rating if it was more than one rating lower than the final rating of the three combined judges.

Competitions in the State were suspended during World War II, and ran into rough times in the 1950's when school administrator associations and the North Central Association recommended that other than athletic contests, inter-scholastic events should be curtailed.  This recommendation was rescinded in 1951, leaving such determination up to the individual school systems.

In 1951, Ohio began to use the district/state levels of adjudication still in use today.  Bands that recieved a "I" or "superior" rating in the district contest then advanced into the State level several weeks later in the spring.  The five rating plan was refined so that there was a well-defined standard assigned to each rating.  This statement of standards still accompanies the five rating plan today.

Beginning in the 1950's and up until 1980, there were as many as ten different marching band competitions held at various schools each fall throughout the State.  Several of the most noted were held at Fairborn, Roger Bacon, Marietta, West Jefferson, Zanesville, and Marlington High Schools.  The Marching Bands of America contest movement was just beginning to be a force in the State by the late 1970's.  Several Ohio bands that were fairly close to neighboring States participated in contests in such circuits as Pennsylvania Federation of Contest Judges and the Mid-West Judges' Circuit.  Each of these contests used similar, yet distinctive rules and regulations and announced rankings of the groups participating.   Classifications of groups were generally determined by band size and prizes were awarded to outstanding auxiliary untils and field commanders/drum majors.

In this pre-1980 time perios there became a growing increase in the influence and sponsorship of these contests by commercial interests such as music companies, and corporations (MBA Grand Nationals sponsored by a national food chain).  Nearby States were holding State Championships.  OMEA began to take an interest in these contests in the mid 1970's and editorials began to mention the problem of director and student burnout associated with contest involvement.  There was a concern in the ranks of OMEA that commercial interests would soon take control of marching band competitions in Ohio.  Some feel that this pushed the OMEA into the marching band competition as much as anything.  It is interesting to note that similar concerns were expressed by MENC in the 1920's when the Conn Company sponsored the National Band Contests.  This most likely was one of the reasons MENC took over sponsorship of these contests in 1924.

In 1979-80, the OMEA formed an ad hoc committee to study various proposals for the formation of a state marching band finals and sanctioned contests.  Members of this committee included Steve Berry, Dick Cool, Gary Tirey, Tim Swinehart, Max Trier, and was chaired by Jack Evans - former director of The Ohio State Marching Band.

The following goals statements came from this committee:

1. To provide at the State level, for those interested in marching band competitions, a competitive event controlled by the OMEA.   Rules and regulations for this event would follow as closely as possible the rules and regulations for other OMEA COmpetitive Festivials.

2. To encourage the co-existence of the many independent (invitational, etc.) marching band contests and festivals now operating in Ohio by making it possible for these contests to serve as qualifying contests for the OMEA State Competition.  Some flexibility in the operation of qualifying contests is included to meet local traditions and conditions.

3. To bring about, in Marching Band Competitions in the State of Ohio, standardization of rules, procedures, and adjudication through the required guidelines for qualifying contests including the use of OMEA adjudication forms and scoring systems.  The intent is to provide competition in which recognition is given for quality of performance regardless of the type of band or style of marching.

After several revisions and much discussion, the Ohio Music Education Association State Board decided at its spring meeting in 1980 to sanction marching band contests that followed the OMEA designated format and gave permission to hold the first State Finals on November 1, 1980.  The OMEA Marching Band Guidelines were published in the Triad, and were available from Steve Berry.  Mr. Berry served for five years as the first "Marching Band Affairs Chair" on the OMEA Competitions Committee.  Bands were eligible to participate in State Finals if they recieved a "I" or "superior" rating at one of the sixteen OMEA-sanctioned contests using the OMEA rules and rgulations.  Thirty-six bands qualified the first year.  The number of qualifying contests grew to thirty in 1981 with sixty-four attending the State Finals.

In subsequent years, the complexity of the guidelines grew from a two-page outline, into a forty-five page handbook of rules and regulations that includes a comprehensive section dealing with caption area adjudication training, contest management, and the philosophy of competing in marching band contests in Ohio.  In the developement of this handbook, several "rules congresses" were attended by representatives from each of the OMEA districts in the State.  Richard Rhodes, Larry Kelley, William Guegold, William Wittman, Randall Clark, and Mitchell Gallehue have followed Steve Berry as Marching Band Affairs Chairs.

In February of 1982, at the OMEA State Professional Conference held in Cincinnati, there began a series of "adjudicator training sessions" to help clarify judging practices and to increase the number of qualified judges available to the OMEA system.   OMEA contests were required to hire judges from the OMEA-approved list as compiled by the Marching Band Affairs Chair.  To become listed in the approved list, prospective judges were required to attend these seminars and make formal application to the Marching Band Affairs Chair.  Adjudication background, personal contest ratings, contest observation, and letters of reference were part of the application and certification process.  the prototype 1982 training session format was later expanded and additional sessions were held at Otterbein college and at The Ohio State University.   Beginning in 1988, sessions have been held at The Ohio State University, Anderson High School (Cincinnati), Bowling Green State University, Wright State University, Marlington High School (Alliance), and Shawnee High School (Lima).  The current scope of these sessions has been expanded to include competing directors and contest chairpersons, as well as adjudicators.  The Marlington session is known as the premier clinic in the State using a live demonstration group for the purposes of training adjudicators and explaining rules with particular emphasis on timing, penalty, and boundary infractions.

With a greater emphasis placed on the "total" marching band program, revisions in auxiliary, Field Commander, general effect, and Music adjudications have been implemented this year (1997), rewarding those bands showing a trend towards a "wholistic" musical and visual program.  These changes place far more of a premium on total visual enhancement of the marching band.  Today, the "over-all" band rating will be announced, to emphasize the importance of total band's performance, rather than each separate entity.

The 1996 OMEA Stae Marching Band Finals featured 136 bands with over 13,000 students participating for 21,169 spectators at Copper Stadium on two separate weekends.   These figures indicate that Ohio is one of the leaders in marching band competitions in the United States.

The Ohio Music Education Association format of adjudicated marching band events has become a solid foundation for over 65 local festivals each year.  The OMEA State Marching Band Finals continues to improve as bands reach higher levels of achievement and directors gain greater knowledge and experience in this area.  An ongoing effort is always taking place to enhance an already strong program brought about by people with a vision to improve music education.

Program notes provided by William K. Guegold, Ph.D., edited by William L. Wittman, J. Michael Gallehue, and Patricia West.