The Falcon Regiment has competed in two of their three competitions this year: the Festival of Champions at the University of Central Missouri and the Shawnee Mission North Marching Festival.

The first competition had a preliminary round to start off, and out of all 28 bands, the 12 with the highest scores moved on to perform in the final round.

“We received a 74 in prelims, putting us in seventh overall,” Andrew Oberholtzer, junior, said. The Regiment scored eighth place in finals.

Their second competition hosted at Shawnee Mission North on Oct. 22 also had a preliminary and a final round; however, all 11 bands competing proceeded to the final round. There they scored sixth in prelims and seventh in finals.

The bands are judged on music and visual effects, music ensemble and individual, visual ensemble and individual, auxiliary, and percussion.

In the music and visual effect category, one judge grades music effects and one grades visual effects. The same process is used for the other categories, except for auxiliary and percussion.

“The final competition is the Heart of America, which is hosted at KU,” Chad Coughlin, band director, said. “That is the one we won Grand Champions at last year.”

This competition will be a “single performance event,” tomorrow, and places will be decided based on that one performance.

Development of the performance theme begins in January of the previous year. This year’s theme is about reflection, “both literally and figuratively.”

“The beginning is about inner struggle and self reflection,” Coughlin said. “And then the last movement is called ‘Empowerment.’ It’s supposed to be [about] being happy with yourself, so it’s a happier, bolder sound in the show.”