Pride Eyes Semi-State Contest

The Pride of Paoli is currently gearing up for their performance at Semi-State which will take place tomorrow, October 29.

At the start of the season, the band performed at various contests to prepare for the official ISSMA contests. The Pride started their season on September 10 at Columbus North, earning first place and Best Percussion, Visuals, General Effect and Music. Two weeks later they took home third in Class D at Floyd Central. At Springs Valley on October 1, the Pride took first place Open Class D, earning Best Percussion and Music. At Valley they also earned the Grand Champion title in both Class C and Class D.

In ISSMA contests, at the Jasper on October 8 they earned Gold and distinctions in music, visual and effect, and at Regional held in Evansville on October 15, the Pride received Gold with a distinction in effect, advancing them to tomorrow’s Semi-State.

“We are having a really successful season so far. We have won first place at three competitions, and just advanced from Regionals competition to the Semi-State competition. We have had to work through a lot of obstacles but the journey has been very rewarding so far,” said Band Director Chris Karkosky.

Led by junior Drum Major Liliann Woodsmall, band members are putting their full attention on their arrangement for SemiState. The show titled “In Focus” presents a variety of pieces including “Clarity” by Zedd, “Symphony No. 8 Finale” by Anton Bruckner and “Original Music” by Bill Spencer Pierce.

“We are working towards mastering everything in our show. Our goal at Semi-State is to have lots of ‘wow’ moments in our performance from all sections of the Pride of Paoli. This stage of the season is all about being as precise, consistent and confident as possible,” said Karkosky.

Karkosky is both impressed with and proud of how well the Pride is doing. He is happy with the abilities they have demonstrated this season, not only as instrumentalists but as people overall.

“The band has improved immensely this year. Our upperclassmen are doing an excellent job of leading the band and being good role models, and our younger members are stepping up to the plate and giving their maximum effort. We are pleased to say that everyone is outdoing themselves from last year which is really nice to see,” said Karkosky.

Tomorrow the Pride will compete at Franklin Community High School at Semi-State competition at 1:30 p.m. Awards for the contest will take place at 7 p.m