The Venice High School marching band had a huge victory on Saturday, Nov. 4 where they competed for the first time at the US Bands West Coast Regional Championships against rivaling high schools and placed first in their division and third overall!

There were five judges that mediated the competition and looked for specific qualities in each performance such as music, musical effect, and visual effect, meaning how they sounded, the music they played, and if the marching was up to their standards.

Mr. Lee, the marching band instructor, has expanded and improved the club in the past four years to include roughly 40 students on the team who faced other marching bands of similar size to theirs.

The competition took place at East LA College where other high school marching bands came head to head in pursuit of victory. The competition lasted practically all day, from 8 in the morning until 9:00 pm. The event was divided into two parts, morning and evening, and the Venice marching band performed in the earlier half.

They have another match on Saturday, Dec. 2 so make sure to show support for your fellow gondoliers and our incredible marching band!