by Felicia Fonseca
Daily Lobo
Saturday morning 29 high school bands from throughout the Southwest will fill University Stadium with the sounds of music as they kick off the 26th annual Zia Marching Band Fiesta.
The event is expected to draw a crowd as large as 16,000 people.
"It is a chance for students and directors to get feedback from nationally known directors," said Miller Asbill, director of bands at UNM.
Asbill said the fiesta is used as a big recruitment tool for the UNM Spirit Marching Band.
"It is definitely more fun than high school," said UNM freshman and band percussionist Kristin Bakke. "Everyone is here because they want to be."
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This year's competition includes bands from Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. The bands are broken up in preliminary competition into four class sizes. The cost for the competition is $250 and covers the fees for the event's judges.
There will be seven judges in three categories including music, general effect and visual with two judges on the field at all times.
The bands are limited to a 13-minute performance. Asbill said a typical performance lasts about nine minutes allowing for time for the bands to set up and leave the field.
Before finals competition begins, members of the Spirit Marching Band will take the field for an exhibition show.
The show will include two old jazz pieces, "Nestico" and "Channel 1 Suite" as well as something new for the band, "First Circle."
Rena Sedillo, flute player for the UNM marching band, has been involved with the fiesta for eight years.
"I think it is a great thing for students," Sedillo said. "Every high school with a marching band should come to Zia."
The event is a chance for people to support each other and see opera, swing, American, classical and Aaron Copeland shows in the same day, Asbill said.
At 5 p.m. the slate will be wiped clean as the top 10 bands advance to finals competition. However, Asbill said the audience will be in complete suspense about where the bands stand. Finals start at 7:30 p.m.
"Everyone knows a 2A school has as good a chance to win as a 4A school," Asbill said.
The top New Mexico band, which was Eldorado High School last year, will be given the Herald Van Winkle award which honors the former director of bands at UNM in the 1970s and 1980s.
Members of the UNM band will be there before dawn to help run the event. The UNM Music Department and UNM bands are co-sponsoring the event and proceeds go to support the UNM Music Department.
"The point is to go out and have fun," Sedillo said. "It is a great music-making experience."
