On Saturday, Oct 8, the Hastings Raider Marching Band was at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for the Youth in Music State Marching Band Championships. The Raider’s performance is named “Gargoyles”, a custom piece written by Randall Standridge The marching band is codirected by Emily Chandler and Tom Wentzler, Percussion Directors Josh Walhstrom and Thomas Walker, Color Guard Directors Grace Bauer and Zack Anderson, Music Technologist Jake Bohlken and the performance field commander is Drum Major Sydney Teuber.

Overall, there were 36 different marching bands that performed in four different classes plus a few exhibition bands. Hastings participated in the Class A division against 11 other schools that included Mankato, Osseo, Hutchinson, Maple Grove, Harrisburg, Andover, Lourdes, Minnetonka, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Blaine.

The scores for Class A went: 1 Hastings HS 66.850 2 Blaine HS 66.750 3 Anoka HS 65.750 4 Harrisburg HS 63.100 5 Mankato Area 61.400 6 Lourdes HS 61.350 7 Coon Rapids HS 59.850 8 Minnetonka HS 59.500 9 Andover HS 58.700 10 Maple Grove HS 55.600 11 Osseo HS 52.900 12 Hutchinson HS 52.400 The Class A win was announced at the 12:45 p.m. awards presentation and with the win, Hastings stayed to perform during the evening session in what is called the Championship Class. The four class champions and the top six scoring bands from all the remaining classes competed for overall champion.

Hastings finished tenth overall against many of the state’s bigger schools. The full list of scores can be found at https://www.youthinmusic.org/scores/ Along with a huge win on the field, Senior Ryan Lindner was one of eight students awarded a $500 dollar scholarship for an essay he wrote.

CoDirector Emily Chandler spoke with The Journal about the big win. “It was so exciting, and the neat thing about it is they just felt so good after their performance. We kept telling them all week, enjoy the moment, it’s the last moment you get to perform this show with this group of kiddos. Every year we graduate a grade off and welcome a new grade in so even though a lot of them are the same members, it’s still a different group. It really seemed like they did. I think this year more than ever, post COVID students just seem really grateful to be there, grateful for the opportunity, grateful to be healthy and performing and not being shut down and it was just… emotional, and just so cool. They really performed their hearts out.”

One of the most impressive things looking back on the scores, was the improvement from the morning score to the evening score, nearly a six point improvement.

“For us being a little itty bitty small band, it’s just the Minnesota State Champion means the most, that first session means the most and then it’s kind of like extra credit. The extra is that we get to perform again. The night performance isn’t necessarily about the score, its more about being able to perform with much bigger schools. We’re not going to beat the Rosemounts of the world where they have over 200 members in their band, and that is all right. When we got done performing that night, you talk to the kids, and they were in tears because they just did a heck of a performance. It was awesome. So cool… So cool. There were tears of joy, there were tears of sadness, because, you know, the season was over. I know my daughter was in tears because she was losing her buddy who’s a senior. Having that, those bonds, and those relationships that have developed and so it was a really special moment. Lots of shouting, lots of hugs,” added Chandler.

Chandler has been part of the Marching Band for Hastings for 22 years and the Youth in Music program is only 18 years old with their State Championships being 10 years old. Six of those years, Hastings has one their class championship.

That success takes a lot of work by the students. They have a fiveday band camp in the summer and then practice for three to four hours every Tuesday and Thursday plus the long trips to competitions. But in the end, when you bring home a Class A championship, the long hours are worth it.

“It takes a team,” said Chandler. “One of the things that we tell the kids that we love to live by as you know, marching band is, it starts everybody. Everybody’s a varsity starter. Nobody’s a benchwarmer. The judges cannot tell if you are a freshman or a senior. Everybody is assessed the exact same way and that’s the best part about marching band so they all learn it. And it takes a team with the teachers. I could never do this by myself. We all share the responsibility and what we teach the kids and how we make this program run. It’s way bigger than just one person. Also, the parent chaperones. We have volunteer parents that were there for 19 hours on Saturday also.”

Parents that fix costumes, make costumes, build sets, it takes a team, and a team won the Class A State Championship for Marching Band this weekend. Congratulations Raiders!

The staff at US Bank Stadium. L to R; Tom Wentzler, Thomas Walker, Josh Wentzler, Jake Bohlken, Emily Chandler, Grace Bauer, Zack Anderson. Photo courtesy of Emily Chandler