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Western Band Association

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WBA's official logo

The Western Band Association (WBA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes high school music education in California, Arizona and Nevada. Specifically, the WBA organizes many marching band competitions for high school students. Its championships event is considered to be the second-largest single marching contest in the country.[1]

In addition to marching band events, WBA also organizes concert band festivals, symposia, and musical and leadership clinics. In 2008, over 12,000 students in 133 bands performed in WBA events in multiple competitions hosted throughout the state.[1]

History

The Western Band Association was started in January 1979 by marching band directors from five Northern and Central California high schools: Mike Rubino (Live Oak High School), Ramiro Barrera (James Logan High School), Dan Smith (Independence High School), Gary Runsten (Modesto High School) and Mel Stratton (Clovis High School).

In 1984, Gary Gilroy (Moreau High School) coined the name "WSMBC" Western States Marching Band Conference, which would later be shortened to WBA by Ramiro Barrera (James Logan High School) in 2002. The first WSMBC Championship was held in conjunction with the 1984 Music Bowl Prelims at James Logan High School. In 1995, John Hannan (Mission Viejo High School) helped expand the organization's efforts to include Southern California bands as well.

In recent years[when?], bands have also competed under the "WBA" banner from nearby states, including Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. The scoring system also grew to become a two-tiered criteria based curriculum designed for bands of various size memberships, assuring that the small band would have the same opportunity as the large band to achieve a high score measuring their unique orchestration and design options.

In 2006, the competition schedule has grown to offer consecutive contests in each of the three Regions (Northern, Central and Southern California) helping to alleviate the costs of travel for the bands.

In 2012, James Logan High School and Ayala High School tied for first place at the WBA Championships, with both scoring 93.40. However, the tie was broken based on Ayala's General Effect score. The tiebreaker settled Ayala as the WBA Champions.

Scoring system

Each individual judge is assigned to a specific caption (Individual and Ensemble Music, Individual and Ensemble Visual, General Effect, Auxiliary, and Percussion). General Effect and Music are each worth 30% of the total score, Visual is worth 20%, and Auxiliary and Percussion are each worth 10%.

Awards are released by division. The band with the highest award points for each caption per division is awarded a caption award, while the band with the most overall points in each division is awarded first place-prize. The band with most points in A/AA/AAA combined classes and AAAA/AAAAA combined classes are awarded a "sweepstakes award", with that band removed from the rankings of their class; the next band in placement in that class is moved to "first place" and so on (only for that class). Each competition will have two Sweepstakes winners, one each for A/AA/AAA and AAAA/AAAAA.

Marching band circuit

The WBA organizes a marching band circuit with competitions held throughout October and November leading up to the circuit championship competition. The circuit currently has five divisions:

  • Class A: Bands with up to 60 members
  • Class AA: Bands with up to 80 members
  • Class AAA: Bands with up to 100 members
  • Class AAAA: Bands with up to 140 members
  • Class AAAAA: Bands with more than 140 members
    • Prior to 2004, there were only four divisions. The original Class AA was expanded to two classes, now AA and AAA. AAA and AAAA became the current AAAA and AAAAA classes. Prior to this (before 2000), WBA had A-60, A-90, AA, and AAA as the classifications.

Class champions at the WBA Championships are determined at the conclusion of preliminary competition at championships. After prelims, the bands then move on to one of two finals competitions: the A/AA/AAA Championship and the AAAA/AAAAA Championship. The top three bands from each division move on to their respective championship and the remaining field is filled by the next highest scoring bands.

The Finals field is composed of:

  • The top 3 bands from each of Class A, AA, and AAA, then the next highest 6 bands from those 3 classifications combined (regardless of class and score) for a total of 15 bands in finals.
  • The top three bands from each of Class AAAA and AAAAA, then the next highest 9 bands from those 2 classifications combined (regardless of class and score) for a total of 15 bands in finals.

Past champions

Below is an incomplete list of past class champions and sweepstakes winners:

Class champions

Year Class A Class AA Class AAA Class AAAA Class AAAAA
2000 Riverbank Trabuco Hills Buchanan James Logan
2001 Buena Live Oak Buchanan James Logan
2002 Gilroy Bullard Buchanan James Logan
2003 Newbury Park Valley Christian El Toro Clovis West
2004 Modesto Live Oak Valley View Cerritos James Logan
2005 Newbury Park Live Oak Fred C. Beyer Trabuco Hills James Logan
2006 Newbury Park Independence Fred C. Beyer Nogales James Logan
2007 Live Oak Independence Fred C. Beyer Fountain Valley James Logan
2008 Live Oak Madera South Fred C. Beyer El Diamante James Logan
2009 Live Oak Valley Christian Los Alamitos Trabuco Hills James Logan
2010 Live Oak Clovis North Los Alamitos El Diamante James Logan
2011 Peninsula Clovis North Basha Granite Bay Ayala
2012 Damien Live Oak Trabuco Hills El Diamante Ayala
2013 Damien Cerritos Nogales El Diamante James Logan
2014 Live Oak Cerritos Trabuco Hills Nogales Ayala
2015 The King's Academy Cerritos Clovis East Granite Bay Ayala
2016 The King's Academy Fred C. Beyer Cerritos Mission Viejo James Logan
2017 Independence Kingsburg Trabuco Hills Granite Bay James Logan
2018 Championships cancelled
2019 The King's Academy Oak Grove Mission Viejo Clovis North Chino Hills
2020 Season cancelled

Sweepstakes winners

Combined A/AA/AAA Grand Champions

Previously known as the Class A/AA Championship.

Year 3rd Place 2nd Place 1st Place
2000 Valley Christian Clayton Valley Trabuco Hills
2001 Bullard Aliso Niguel Live Oak
2002 Aliso Niguel Bullard Live Oak
2003 Aliso Niguel Bullard Valley Christian
2004 Independence Valley View Valley Christian
2005 Valley Christian Aliso Niguel Fred C. Beyer
2006 Clovis Valley Christian Fred C. Beyer
2007 Aliso Niguel Chino Hills Fred C. Beyer
2008 Fred C. Beyer Clovis East Aliso Niguel
2009 Clovis East Fred C. Beyer Los Alamitos
2010 Clovis North Valley Christian Los Alamitos
2011 Valley Christian Rancho Cucamonga Basha
2012 Los Alamitos Rancho Cucamonga Trabuco Hills
2013 Los Alamitos Nogales Clovis North
2014 Chaffey Cerritos Trabuco Hills
2015 Live Oak Clovis East Cerritos
2016 Los Alamitos Cerritos Trabuco Hills
2017 Cerritos Fountain Valley Trabuco Hills
2018 Championships cancelled
2019 Los Alamitos Rowland Mission Viejo
2020 Season cancelled

Combined AAAA/AAAAA Grand Champions

Previously known as the AAA/AAAA Championship.

Year 3rd Place 2nd Place 1st Place
2000 Clovis West Mission Viejo James Logan
2001 Clovis West Mission Viejo James Logan
2002 Clovis West Ayala James Logan
2003 Ayala Clovis West Mission Viejo
2004 Upland Mission Viejo James Logan
2005 Mission Viejo Upland James Logan
2006 Ayala Mission Viejo James Logan
2007 Mission Viejo Upland James Logan
2008 Ayala Mission Viejo James Logan
2009 Mission Viejo Ayala James Logan
2010 Homestead Mission Viejo James Logan
2011 Upland James Logan Ayala
2012 El Diamante James Logan* Ayala*
2013 Mission Viejo James Logan Upland
2014 Mission Viejo Ayala James Logan
2015 Upland James Logan Ayala
2016 Amador Valley Homestead James Logan
2017 Homestead Ayala James Logan
2018 Championships cancelled
2019 Upland James Logan Chino Hills
2020 Season cancelled

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Grantham, Jon (2009-03-26). "WBA President's report 03/26". Western Band Association. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
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