14 high school bands will compete at PIMBA 2024 Championships in Monroeville

Marching bands from across the region will compete this weekend in Monroeville at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association’s 2024 championships.

For Shawn Harris, director of the Southmoreland High School Scotties Marching Band, it’s a chance to showcase his students’ talent.

“A lot of times at halftime, we aren’t always able to perform the full show,” Harris said. “These past two home games have been senior night and then homecoming, so we did a full performance of the show right after the game ended.”

Scotties marching band members have quite a recent legacy to live up to: Southmoreland has taken first place in Class A competition the past three years in a row.

Harris, however, said his focus is not on winning the competition.

“The focus is on putting up the best show that we can,” he said. “Certainly, winning is a great motivation for the kids, but their excitement and pride as they come off the field knowing they’ve done their best is what I love to see. It’s a higher type of winning.”

Southmoreland will perform against fellow Class A competitors Yough, Trinity, Mars and Deer Lakes. The Class AA category includes Burrell, Baldwin, Fox Chapel and Gateway; AAA this year includes only Mt. Lebanon; and the AAAA competition has Moon and Hampton along with perennial national competitors Norwin and Kiski Area.

Gateway marching band director Ryan Moser said he enjoys the variety at the competition.

“The fact that we have so many different bands, ones that are far smaller and far bigger than us, is wonderful,” Moser said. “It’s a nice camaraderie between the schools. It’s a competition, but we’re all rooting for one another’s programs.”

Kiski and Norwin regularly vie for the top spot in the AAAA division. But Kiski Area band director Shawn Pityk said one-upping their stiffest competition isn’t something they consider.

“Our goals each year are to simply design and provide the best show that we can for the students we have,” Pityk said. “As we approach this last show of the season, we’re working toward maxing out the performance level of the group so they can put on their best show. The results fall where they fall.”

Kiski’s show this year is called “On Gossamer Wings,” with visual elements centered around the unique qualities of a dragonfly.

“We have winged props spaced all over the field and also showcase the theme with beautiful costuming of the color guard,” Pityk said.

Southmoreland will be performing a halftime show called “Metallic Shades.”

“It sort of has a double meaning,” Harris said. “There is some music by Ozzy Osbourne and Queensryche, and a piece called ‘Thrash’ that’s meant to emulate a hard rock song.”

There is also a piece titled “Foundry,” which will see band members creating drumbeats from everyday objects.

“We’ve got them playing ‘found instruments’ like old propane tanks, brake drums, road signs and garbage cans,” Harris said.

The competition will kick off at 4 p.m. Saturday at Gateway’s Antimarino Stadium, 3000 Gateway Campus Boulevard, Monroeville.

At the end of the evening, the crowd will be treated to an exhibition performance by the Pittsburgh Steeline, a professional drum corps that entertains fans outside Steelers home games.

Tickets will be available at the gate. They are $15 for adults and $10 for students.