The marching season for Marching Pride of Lawrence Township is a busy one filled with dedication, practice, performances and competitions throughout the state.
The MPLT is a joint effort between Lawrence Central and Lawrence North high schools. The combined, townshipwide high school marching band competes at both the state level through the Indiana State School Music Association and the National level through Bands of America.
Those who are not involved in marching band tend not to see the dedication behind the sport, according to participants. Practice, rehearsals and performances are notoriously challenging and require commitment from both students and instructors.
“The marching season begins with preseason training rehearsals beginning in late April into early May,” Marshall said. “We use this time to properly prepare our students for the competitive season, which for us doesn’t start until early September.”
The MPLT competes in several competitions each year. So far for the 2022-23 academic year, the band has competed in four competitions.
“MPLT has competed in the Northwestern Invitational, where we finished in first place and earned awards for best Music and Best General Effect,” Marshall said. “We then competed in the Bands of America Kentucky Regional, held at the University of Louisville. There were 30 bands competing. We advanced to the finals and finished 11th overall. We then went on to compete at the ISSMA State Regionals competition at Carroll High School and qualified fors state semifinals, earning a gold with Distinction in Visual. The weekend of Oct. 21, we competed in the America Indianapolis Super Regional held at Lucas Oil Stadium. There were 84 bands competing. MPLT finished 28th overall.”
The future of the marching band’s season looks bright and busy.
“We look forward to continued growth in our organization,” Marshall said. “The band is consistently getting larger and getting better. We look forward to working with more families within our community and continuing to bring a world-class music education to the students of Lawrence Township.”
The MPLT will compete in the Bands of America Grand Nationals Nov. 10-12 at Lucas Oil Stadium for a national title. Marshall looks forward to the competition.
“We hope to see some of our Lawrence community there to support,” he said.
