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AMERICAN FORK — American Fork High School's marching band performed "spot on" over the weekend at a national competition, ranking eighth in the country at the finals of the Bands of America Grand National Marching Competition.
Orien Landis, the school's band director of six years, has long aimed to get the marching band to the national finals. The last time American Fork High School was a grand national finalist was in 1995.
The competition starts with more than 100 bands, whittled down over two days of preliminary competition to the top 30 semifinalists. The semifinalists perform a second time, and the top 12 are chosen as grand national finalists. From there, the top 12 perform a third time to determine the winners.
Two years ago, the band made it to nationals and placed 13th, missing the top 12 by just a few tenths of a point. "(It) was a little heartbreaking when you've been working four years to get there, but it didn't really deter us," Landis said.
He said placing 13th was a good learning experience for the kids, as "you can't have success all the time." So, the American Fork High School marching band kept on working.
Drum major Jared Rajaratnam said since May, the band has focused on making it to finals.
"We really just manifested it, and we all wanted to push and try super hard this season and put it in the work to reach that goal, and we are happy and really satisfied we were able to do that," said Rajaratnam, now in his fourth year performing in the band.
The band qualified for finals after winning the Utah regional competition in St. George earlier this month. As one of only two bands from west of the Rockies that qualified, the more than 230 students and dozens of parents and staff traveled to Indianapolis for the national competition.
Landis said the band played one of its best performances during the preliminary round on Nov. 14, securing its spot as a semifinalist.
Saturday morning, the team "had a really spectacular run. The kids easily did the best that they had done of the year," Landis said.
Due to getting so tantalizingly close two years prior, the band members were on pins and needles waiting to hear if they would make it to a top 12 spot. When the announcers said American Fork High School was the sixth school to make it to the finals, the students erupted.
"Hugs and high-fives and fist bumps and screaming and yelling, and we don't even know who made the other six positions because, for the next five minutes, everyone was just screaming and yelling," Landis said. "Just a teary-eyed moment. I couldn't help it; I started crying. As a band director, to have a band that's in the grand national finals ... it was just incredible."
Rajaratnam said he held his breath during the finals announcement. The drum majors salute whenever their band name is read, and after being announced as a finalist, their salute "was not very good" as they were all crying and so excited.
Landis went down to meet the drum majors, who were on the field accepting the trophies in the competition. The drum majors had to stay composed while out on the field, but once they saw their fearless director, they ran to Landis to celebrate and take in the accomplishment.
"Those drum majors, they work as hard or harder than what I do. The rest of the band has been celebrating for 30 minutes at this point, and the (drum majors) are down in the tunnel waiting for me. So I was the first one they got to celebrate with. It was a really great moment to get to share that with those guys," Landis said.
The band members then rushed back to their instruments to get ready to perform a final time.
"We get out on the field, and the kids just have the hugest smiles on their face," he said.
With more than 50,000 people in the stands and millions more "band kids" watching online, the American Fork band "hit it out of the park" with its best performance of the year, Landis said.
The band performed Cody Fry's songs "Flying" and "I Hear a Symphony," Cory Wong's "Golden" and a heavy metal rock version of Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4.
The band's routine this year was called "Spot On," highlighting the band's aim to put on such a show that the audience would think, "Oh, that's really cool. That's spot on," Landis explained.
The recognizable pop songs helped get the crowd involved in the performance, Rajaratnam added.
The band couldn't have done it without the support of parents and the community, Landis said.
"I've never been anywhere else where the parents care so much for the kids' experience," Landis said. "Our admin, our school, our community, our parents — we are nothing without them."
Principal Peter Glahn even promised to dye his beard if they made it to the finals, so for several hours on Saturday, he sported glittery pink facial hair.
Rajaratnam said it was touching to see the support of the community and from around the state. Members of the Westlake High School Marching Band traveled to support the band, and Rajaratnam said it was awesome having their friends with them.
"I love music and the way that it can evoke emotions. Music is a universal language. Music speaks to everybody," Rajaratnam said.
The high school senior said he will forever remember this experience, achieving a goal with his bandmates who became family. He is grateful for the impact marching has had on his life.
