"Bach in the Saddle” – Pioneer Marching Band preparing for upcoming season

 


STILLWATER, Okla. – Featuring one of the largest marching bands in school history, the Stillwater High School Pioneer Marching Band is hard at work preparing for the 2025 marching season. Band Camp began on July 28th and the band will host a free community performance on Thursday, August 7th at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Stadium to officially kick off the marching season.
 
The Pioneer Marching Band is coming off a successful 2024 marching season earning bronze medal honors in Class 6A-2 and being named a state finalist at the Oklahoma Bandmasters State Championship. The band also earned State Academic Champions in Class 6A for the eleventh time in program history.
 
This year’s show, entitled, “Bach in the Saddle,” will feature the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as more recent western style music to complete the theme.
 
“We are excited to give the community and our supporters a first glimpse of our show at the community performance in August and hope to see a large crowd supporting our students,” said Stillwater Public Schools Director of Bands, Kevin Zamborsky.
 
The band will continue to add music and elements to the show throughout the season, performing at halftime of Stillwater High School football games, and at marching contests hosted by Deer Creek High School, Mustang High School and Union High School.  Marching season will then conclude with a full run of the show on Friday, October 31st at Pioneer Stadium and then the 2025 Oklahoma Bandmasters Associations State Championships on Saturday, November 1st, hosted by Broken Arrow High School.
 
The Pioneer Marching Band also plans to march in both the OSU Homecoming Parade in October and the Downtown Stillwater Parade of Lights in December.
 
“I always caution our students that even though we are at the beginning of the marching season now, it will go by extremely fast,” Zamborsky added. “My hope for our students this year is that we see continued growth and improvement at each rehearsal and performance.”
 
Stillwater Bands also welcomes a new team member this year.  Sean Gartner joined the program as Assistant Director of Bands this summer. Gartner, a graduate of Oklahoma State University, previously served as Director of Bands for Pawnee Public Schools.
 
“Mr. Gartner is a strong addition to our staff and is a familiar face around our program,” Zamborsky said.  “He has previously provided trumpet and piano lessons to many of our students, as well as being an accompanist for solo competitions.”
 
The Pioneer Marching Band is a regular finalist in state and regional marching competitions. Stillwater is the reigning bronze medalist at the Oklahoma Bandmasters Associations state championship and an 11-time state academic champion. The band is under the direction of Kevin Zamborsky, Tricia Bailey-Bovenschen, Megan Perkins, Katie Genevro, Sean Gartner and color guard director Darin Williams. Learn more about the Stillwater Public School Band Program at stillwaterbands.org.


Popular posts from this blog

First in Class; Stillwater & Perkins marching bands earn top honors

Image
  EDMOND, Okla. –  For the second year in a row, the Stillwater Pioneer Marching Band and the Perkins-Tryon Midnight Regiment took home top honors for their respective classes at the Deer Creek Invitational.   The Pioneer Marching Band’s 2025 show, entitled, “Bach in the Saddle,” earned first place honors in Class AA during the afternoon’s preliminary competition when bands compete with each other based on the size of their high school.  The Midnight Regiment also earned top class honors, finishing first in Class A for their show, entitled, “Masters of the Keys.”   Both bands were selected as finalists at the competition, where the top twelve bands, regardless of school size, perform in the evening competition. In finals performance, Stillwater placed second overall and Perkins-Tryon placed sixth. The Midnight Regiment also earned Fan Favorite honors.  Edmond Santa Fe High School took home first place overall.   “Our band has a large number of undercl...
Read more

SHS Band competes at Mustang Invitational; hosts 8th Grade Night

Image
MUSTANG, Okla. – The Stillwater High School Pioneer Marching Band competed in their second contest of the season this past Saturday, when they took the field at the Mustang Marching Invitational. In the afternoon’s preliminary competition, when bands compete against each other based on Bands of America classifications, the Pioneer Marching Band took home third place in Class AA, and qualified for Finals, where the top 12 bands compete regardless of classification.   In finals performance, their show, entitled, “Bach in the Saddle,” earned an 8 th place overall finish. The band was able to improve on their afternoon performance, and placed higher overall in Finals than the two Class AA bands that had outscored SHS in the afternoon competition.   “After preliminary results were announced, I told our students that our overall placement and score was not as important to me as them improving from one performance to the next,” said Stillwater Public Schools Director of B...
Read more