Marching Bands to Compete Saturday

Mike Gangemi knows it takes more than a Sousa tune to make a good marching band.

As host of Moorpark High School’s fourth annual Battle of the Bands, Gangemi, the school’s assistant band director, has been busy for weeks organizing a 23-band competition to be held Saturday at Moorpark Stadium.

He said those attending a band competition for the first time may see why the events have become so popular. Today’s bands use choreography, props, backdrops and intricate formations that make the old “spell-out-the-school’s-name” routine seem like child’s play.

“Bands used to be people in uniforms playing marches and making boxes on a field,” said Gangemi. “I still believe the music is the most important, but the visual is becoming a much bigger aspect.”

“There’s such a diversity, you can’t help but being drawn into it,” he added.

For most bands, choosing arrangements from a catalog will not help win competitions, he said. To ensure originality, Moorpark’s band teachers select music by first listening to recordings, then commissioning professional arrangers to customize band parts.

“Spanish music this year is a hot item,” he said. “And doing music from musicals is huge. We’re doing, ‘West Side Story,’ some [bands] are doing ‘Les Miserables,’ one is doing ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ ”

Moorpark High hopes to raise $10,000 for new band instruments from the event, Gangemi said. The instruments are crucial because Moorpark High’s music department expects a large influx of new students next year.

“There are more kids getting involved in the middle school programs in Moorpark,” he said. “And if we only have six tubas and we have eight tuba players, we have a problem.”

The Battle of the Bands is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Moorpark High School, 4500 Tierra Rejada Road. Each band will have 15 minutes to perform, and the competition should last until about 9 p.m. The stadium gates will open at 1:30.

For more information call (805) 378-6388.