The Lodi Marching Rams take the field in competition! With their show, they celebrate the musical, In the Heights, and Hispanic heritage.

The competitions are judged based on musicality and technique, ranging from staying in step, dynamic contrast, horn angles, crisp choreography, and being in tune. It’s safe to say the Marching Rams have done their best to excel in several categories.

When a competition does come around, the performance schedule is tight. Marching band members do 10-15 minute warm-ups to prepare for the day and then, quickly change into their uniforms. From there, they take roughly an hour to do some last minute tweaking before packing up everything and commuting roughly 30 minutes to an hour to the competition.

The competition dates and locations were Sunday, October 5th at Madison High School and Sunday, October 19th at West Essex High School. Sadly, their second competition had been canceled due to weather warnings. But that did not stop the Marching Rams from performing their best.

In their first competition, they received a score of roughly 69 points, the award for Best Fans, and was 3rd in the running for Best Percussion. Before they perform their show, air grams are announced to show their support and lighten the tense mood before they play. After they compete, marching band members enjoy the performances of the other teams, purchase food at the host school’s snack stand, and cheer for their leaders before the awards are announced.

In their last competition, the Marching Rams had improved by nearly 10 points (which is incredible by competition standards), earning a score of roughly 78 points. Successful in their goal of improvement, the Marching Rams walked away from the competition proud.