1998 Press Releases

Marching Eagles change for the better (Nick Houser, Xenia Daily Gazette staff writer, Nov. 18, 1998)

     When the Bellbrook High School Marching Eagles were named (class A) national champions at the 1998 Bands of America Grand National Championships, it was season of change.
      After the Bands of America Regional competition in Morgantown W. Va., BHS Director Marty Spitzer decided to change the ending of the competition show Hieroglyphs.
      The band reworked the marching formations and pulled the band together more in the ending to help improve the sound. Not only did the sound improve, but the visual and general effects improved with the help of the new color guard routine.
      This year's music Hieroglyphs was the inspiration of Michael Siler. Siler was watching a special on Egypt and hieroglyphs on television. It took off from there. Siler finished the music and then his wife, Barb, one of the BHS directors, wrote the score.
      For the first time the marching formations were not designed internally. For that, Bellbrook had Jay Murphy of the drum and bugle corps Concord California Bluedevils (sic) design the drill.
      It wasn't just the music and the marching that helped the Marching Eagles be successful this season, Barb Siler said. Hard work was also a factor, she said.
      "The whole band had a new level of dedication and work ethic," she said.
      After the ending of Hieroglyphs was reworked, the band started to enjoy a great deal of success, according to Spitzer.
      Starting with a competition in Kettering hosted by Fairmont High School, the band started receiving standing ovations. One came during its performance in Indianapolis this past weekend.
      Overall Bellbrook racked up five grand champions awards. In all five of the championship efforts, BHS was awarded best outstanding music performance, outstanding general effects and outstanding visual performance.
      The field commanders for the Marching Eagles are Jana North and Nick Wahrer. Soloists include: Ann Rudolph on the flute, Melissa Montong (Montgomery) and Zach Schatle (Shartle) on Soprano saxophone; and Jamin Kline on the keyboards.

BHS claims national championship (Nick Houser, Xenia Daily Gazette staff writer, Nov. 17, 1998)

      The Bellbrook High School marching band captured the Class A national championship at the 1998 Bands of America Grand National Championships this weekend.
      At the RCA dome in Indianapolis, the Marching Eagles posted a score of 83.65 out of a possible 100 and captured the Class A crown. (ed. note - Actual score was 83.85)
      Bellbrook received a score of 88.5 in the preliminary competition, and was one of 30 bands to qualify for the semifinals. (ed. note - Actual score was 88.05)
      The band was in18th place overall after the second round and missed the finals by six places. (ed. note - Bellbrook actually placed 17th overall).
      Lassiter High School from Marietta, GA., was named grand champions (sic) of the contest with a score of 97.55.
      The Marching Eagles were named the Class A champions at the grand national competition for the first time in two years. In the past two years BHS finished second in its class.
      "It's been a great year," said BHS Marching Band Director Marty Spitzer. "It was a big deal to our outgoing seniors."
      In the class championships, Bellbrook was honored for best outstanding music performance, outstanding general effect and outstanding visual performance.
      The Marching Eagles did not qualify for the final round. But since BHS won the class championship, it was still able to perform.
      In exhibition, Bellbrook received a standing ovation before they finished the performance.
      On the field, the band is under the direction of field commanders Jana North and Nick Wahrer.
      The title of BHS' competition show this season was Hieroglyphs, an original composition for this season.

Eagle band wins regional competition (Craig Napier, Xenia Daily Gazette staff writer, Nov. 11, 1998)

      The Bellbrook High School Marching Eagles won the Mid-States Band Association's Regional Championships at Centerville High School last weekend and will compete at a national competition in Indianapolis this weekend.
      "We're having a really good year but we're traditionally a strong competitor in the Bands of America competition. We work at it - the kids have a tremendous work ethic," said Marty Spitzer, Marching Eagles director.
      The Eagles will compete in the RCA Dome for the Bands of America National Championships beginning Friday at 3:15.
      Spitzer said the Marching Eagles compete in three different association's contests during the season. In addition to Bands of America, next weekend's competition and the Mid-States Band Association, sponsors of the contest in Centerville, as well as the Ohio Music Education Association.
      In last weekend's competition - which was for all bands in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky who are members of the association - preliminary round the Eagles were chosen one of the top 10 bands out of 22 which entered the competition.
      The Eagles won the open class award and the auxiliary caption award during preliminaries. Auxiliary include color guard and other non-musical entities in the band.
      During the final round the Eagles won every auxiliary caption award receiving the highest score for color guard as well as the highest achievement for musical performance and visual performance. They also won the general effect award.
      The marching Eagles where (sic) awarded grand champions with an overall percentage score of 90.6.
      Next week's competition in Indianapolis is a national championship.
      The band earned the right to attend this week's National Championships at competitions by winning regional titles in both West Virginia and an earlier competition in Indianapolis. (ed. note - participation in Grand Nationals is not dependent upon regional competitions.)
      "I don't want to sound conceited, but we're usually one of the top two bands in the Bands of America competition (ed. note - in Class 'A'). We're just going to go there and perform our routine with the hope we perform it well," said Spitzer.
      To find out more information about this weekends competition visit the Bands of America web page at www.bands.org.