By Lori Ehde
The Luverne High School marching band is basking in the glow of an outstanding competitive season.
According to director Dale Nelson, this has been the most successful season he's had in his 26 years in Luverne.
The trophies and plaques this year represent 18 awards, 17 of them first-place honors, plus three sweepstakes awards.
Nelson said Luverne has won a total of two or three sweepstakes awards in his 25 years prior to this year, but three in one year is unprecedented.
To what does he owe the success?
"Good kids," Nelson said. "They work hard. And they really focus on what we do."
He said he's enjoyed all the students he's had in previous years, but he said there was something special about this group of 123 students.
"When you have success, you also have more fun, so it kind of feeds on itself," Nelson said. "They know what needs to be done. You don't have to keep reinforcing it. They take ownership in it. They want everything to be as good as it can be."
Nelson said Luverne's competitive success has improved progressively since he started using professional drill writers in 1997.
Now he said all the students are familiar with it, and he has requested more difficult material.
"The music this year was the most difficult we ever played. We got a lot of comments from judges on that," Nelson said. "We're able to do those things because the kids are at that level."
Luverne's marching band members start practicing in August. During the first two weeks in August, they practice four hours a day for 10 days. When school starts, they practice before school, starting at 7 a.m.
After the Tri-State Band Festival, they taper off a bit, starting after 7:30 and then taking some days off.
"The biggest thing is we don't want to feel like it's a terrible task," he said. "You want to work hard, but you want it to be fun - to balance between the two."
Nelson said he and his band members enjoy practicing in front of more than 100 elementary students who line up to watch them each day.
"They talk about what instrument they want to play some day, and some talk about being a drum major," Nelson said.
He said one dark morning at 7 a.m. an elementary student was already there waiting for band practice to start.
For Nelson, that's not hard to understand. "I never get tired of listening to the band," he said.
Following are results from this season's competitions:
Waseca Marching Classic>
1st place Parade Class AA
1st place Field Class AA
Outstanding Guard
Tri-State Band Festival>
1st place Parade Class AA
2nd place Field Class AA
Chamberlain River City Band Festival
1st place Parade Class AAAA
1st place Field Class AAAA
Outstanding Drum Majors
Outstanding Guard
Sweepstakes
Brandon Big Sioux Review Field Competition
1st place Field Class AAA
Outstanding Horn Line
Outstanding Guard
Sweepstakes
Spirit of Madison Field Competition
1st place Field Class AA
Outstanding Guard
Combined Sweepstakes
(total score of Brandon
and Madison)
Brookings Optimists
Field Competition
1st place Field Class AA