Legacy High School Marching Band performs at national competition – …

The Legacy High School Marching Band ended its season with a big trip to the Bands of America Grand National Championships last week at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Legacy band has placed first or second place at state competitions for the last 16 years, winning 11 times. Thus, Director Dr. Brian Ebert and Assistant Director Trey Tafoya thought it was time to give the band a chance to perform at a higher level.

“Our state is really underrepresented at a national level,” Ebert said. “A lot of bands in Colorado don’t have the financial resources that some other states have, so it can be more difficult to get to that stage. But it’s so important for these kids to see what’s out there and experience high-level performing arts.”

The band placed 36th overall in the competition, which Ebert said he was more than happy with.

“This competition was intimidating at first,” Ebert said. “We were uncertain how we would match up against other larger bands in the county, but once we got there we realized that we did, in fact, deserve to be there. We really held our own against the other bands, and once that initial anxiety settled we really just had a lot of fun.”

Tafoya said the band’s eight-and-a-half-minute phenomenal performance made him emotional.

“I even teared up a little bit,” Tafoya laughed. “They really took everything we have learned and practiced and put it all on the field. Seeing everything culminate into one performance was amazing. It’s eight and a half minutes I’ll never forget.”

Tafoya and Ebert agreed that this performance lit a fire in the students’ hearts. Ebert said by the look on their faces after their performance you would have thought they won the competition, which was exactly what both directors wanted from the trip.

“The students are ready to come back and get to work and become better musicians and performers,” Tafoya said.

Ebert said his long-term goal is to get the band back to this competition in the coming years, but for now, he is focusing on getting the band back to pre-pandemic numbers so it’s easier to make it to these large-scale competitions.

“COVID reduced our numbers by about 30%,” Ebert said. “We are focusing on drawing more interest and getting those numbers back up. The more people and interest we have in the marching band the easier it is to raise money and gain support to go to competitions like these.”

Community support was a huge part of the marching band making it to this competition, Ebert and Tafoya said.

“On behalf of Trey and I, we really have to thank our school, the staff, the band family, and the community at large for the support we have received,” Ebert said. “We also received messages of support from so many other schools and programs, which was one of the coolest things as we were getting ready for this.”

The program is transitioning to concert band for the spring, and Ebert said the group will continue to practice and learn how to be the best performers they can be.