(Photo Courtesy of: Grace Smith/IndyStar)

The Normal Marching Band cultivated success and harvested a bounty of accolades this season with their plant-themed performance, “Seed to Bloom,” culminating in a flourishing finish at the Illinois Marching Band Championship on Oct. 26, their final show of the year.

There, the NMB claimed the Governor’s Grand Champion Trophy for the large-school pool and took home class awards for Best Music, Visuals and General Effect—earning every honor available at the University of Illinois-hosted competition.

That triumph was just the last in a season full of abundant victories, as the band was crowned Grand Champion at both the Morton Marching Invitational and the Metamora Band Invitational, earning top honors in two of the three invitationals they attended.

They barely missed a clean sweep of the 2024 season’s Invites. In their debut performance, the Washington Marching Panther Invitational, despite securing a class victory, the NMB fell just 0.7 points shy of Morton for overall champion.

Although no IHSA-sanctioned State Championship exists for marching bands, the Illinois Marching Band Championship is one of two competitions widely regarded as the “de facto” State Finals, NMB director Paul Carter said.

The other? The Illinois State Marching Band Championship hosted by Illinois State University.

Carter said he considers that event the “pinnacle” of marching band competition in the state, citing its “stiffer competition” and the structure of its Finals round, where the top 15 scoring bands compete head-to-head.

Illinois State’s Hancock Stadium, Carter said, is a venue that’s become close to a “home stadium” for the NMB; the field has a “really great atmosphere” with parents and alumni coming to root for the co-op team. It’s an environment where the band seems to thrive and bloom.

This season its where the NMB took home a third consecutive 6A state title, leaving the Oct. 19 competition with additional hardware: trophies for Best Music and Visual performance.

Winning their class automatically advanced the band to ISU’s Finals round, where they took fourth place overall, falling to Morton’s powerhouse program, which secured its third consecutive championship.

Those dual first-place 6A finishes, winning their class at the ISU and U of I competitions, the director said, demonstrates that the Normal Marching Band is “in the top echelon of marching band in this state.”

Their competition schedule ahead of the Normal event only reinforces that, as the band’s ISU performance in the Finals was the band’s third in a two-day span. 

(Photo Courtesy of: Grace Smith/IndyStar)

The day prior, the NMB was in Indianapolis, performing at the Bands of America Super-Regional.

There against a field of 88 bands from across the country—including South Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois—Normal placed 32nd overall and 18th in their class.

This appearance marked the first time the NMB performed at the Indianapolis venue, having attended the St. Louis Bands of America competition in previous years.

Lucas Oil Stadium, Carter said, was an “important place” for the band to perform that weekend.

The dome, home to world-renowned marching band competitions like Drum Corps International and Bands of America Grand National Championships, holds a special prestige.

For band members like drum major Mohnish Janagan, who had watched countless performances on the field via YouTube, stepping into Lucas Oil Stadium felt like a dream fulfilled.

“It was important,” Carter said, “for us to give these students an opportunity to be in that dome.”

While the schedule didn’t allow for a finals run in Indy, awards were never the band’s primary motivation for attending, the director said.

“I don’t put all my stock in our success [or] necessarily the accolades,” he said. “What I look for is the student success, watching the students be successful and feeling like we did the best version of ourselves.”

While the trip to Indy was a valuable experience it was also a tiring one. 

For Janagan and the rest of the band, the whirlwind period “was very exhausting,” the junior said.

From leaving for Indy at 8:00 a.m. on the Oct. 18, arriving in at the stadium at 1:00 p.m. local time, practicing, watching each of the other bands perform  and returning home close to midnight, Janagan said, the band had little time to rest before another rehearsal and the ISU performances.

That packed weekend, Carter said, was a chance for students to show their “endurance and mental fortitude” and refine their craft.

The band didn’t have to do three performances that weekend; they “got to do three performances,” Carter said.

All that work all paid off in the eyes of Janagan.

“To know that you’ve been a state champion the last three years in a row,” Janagan said, “is something that connects with you.