On Saturday, October 21, 2017, the South Forsyth Marching Band won first place at the Grovetown Warrior Invitational in Augusta, Georgia. Many hours of effort and practice were put into the band’s show, The Unheard. This was a performance of Beethoven’s major works including, Moonlight Sonata and his Ninth Symphony. The SFHS Marching Band, along with nine other marching bands, participated in this invitational and won the final championship. The invitational was a two-part performance competition; the morning session meant for judging bands within the same size classification and the evening session for judging the overall scores of all of the bands, regardless of size (More information on the Grovetown Warrior Invitational here). South won first place in their class in the morning session as well as the evening session with superior scores.

The journey which lead to this accomplishment required significant effort and dedication. Under the new direction of Director Stephen Hendricks and Assistant Director Dixon Pendergrass, the band was able to put together a polished and professional show after three hard months of practice and rehearsals. However, this was only the second competition that the marching band had performed in. The first one was the Greater Atlanta Marching Band Competition in Rockdale County where South received second three weeks ago on Saturday, October 14. The following Monday they also performed at the Forsyth County Marching Exhibition, along with the other four marching bands in the county.

Though this was indeed an impressive feat pulled off by the marching band, there will be more performances and challenges that await them. Particularly the next competition they will participate in, the White Columns Invitational, at Milton High School on November 4. Even though it will be the last competition the marching band will perform in, we can expect a great performance from the South Forsyth Marching Band.