PL High Schools Join Together To Host Tournament Of Bands

by Amy McConnell
10.25.07

Nine high school bands from around the metro gathered at the Papillion-La Vista Schools Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 29 for the first annual Tournament of the Bands.

The Tournament of the Bands was the result of a collaborative effort by PL South band director Bill Kellett and Papillion-La Vista band director Mike Pollock. Despite the rivalry between the two schools, working together proved to be beneficial.

“Working with them was fine,” Kellett said. “It worked very well because both band booster groups worked to run the Tournament and it gave us a chance to observe their band and gave them the chance to observe ours.”

Kellett and Pollock formatted the Tournament in a unique way. In a typical competition, each band competes individually. In the Tournament of the Bands, three bands competed as a team receiving one score for the team instead of individual rankings. The teams this year were the Gold Team, which included Westside, Palmyra and Plattsmouth and the Silver Team, composed of Omaha Central, Gretna and Plattview. The Silver team received the winning score. Due to their role as the host school, the PL South and Papillion-La Vista bands were not a part of a team.

Another unique aspect of the Tournament was each band being critiqued by two impartial judges.
“They observed the performances and then told each band what they could do to improve,” Kellett said. “We’ve already made several changes based on the critique we received.”

Overall, band members were pleased with how PL South’s bands performed.

“It (the performance) was a good start, but there were a few kinks that need to be and probably will be worked out,” sophomore Erik Gustafson said.

Kellett intends to organize the Tournament of the Bands as an annual occurrence.

photo by Braden Boex