Goodmorning everyone! I am writing up some things to post and working on invitational scripts etc. I would like an informal just yes or no as to who would be interested in an ENCORE! Europe tour!!

With last night’s parade down Main Street U.S.A., FMA Season 78 is halfway over! What a season it has been! ENCORE! Ensembles currently hold 3 of the top 5 places worldwide and the Marching Knights of Portland, Maine are way out in front with almost a 6 point lead. The race for second place is close with only a little over a point separating the Mt. Juliet Band of Gold and the Spanish Park Regiment with Onachus only 0.080 points behind the Band of Gold.

In Division 3, The Pride of Plymouth High School is in first place in their very first year of FMA competition and with a commendable lead! Blue Heroes are holding in there at 5th place but within reach of 2nd as only two points separate them. It has been exciting seeing some of our newest members both Arkansas Marching Band and North Salem’s Pride of the Vikings grow throughout this season, and while this first year may seem slow, we applaud them and encourage them to keep rehearsing and next season they can really go places!

Perhaps, while not always placing highest, New Castle’s show “Time Waits for No Man” has become a continual crowd pleaser and along with ENCORE!’s other D2 band, Thoroughbreads, we are happy to see such ensembles bringing to heart the mission of ENCORE! Bands!

This year, perhaps more than any other, the show themes have been spectacularly broad. Seeing everything from Jersey Boys to Armenian Dances, the shows have been unique and exciting! Only a few more weeks until the ENCORE! Championships and after that the FMA Finals! And if this season is any sign as to how future seasons will be, I am more excited than anything to see what Season 79 has to bring!

A Europe tour sounds great! (That's far from home haha!)

Doing good dude!

CONGRATULATIONS ENCORE BANDS FOR COMPLETING 30 ACTIVE FMA SEASONS!
(FMA 51- FMA 81)

Alright, sorry everyone that I haven’t been as active lately. I really have been meaning to get out an announcement post like this but I haven’t. As some may have read in the Marching Band 2019 Forum, my season has just ended and it was a rough season. NOW, I have time on my hands and I will be spending some Saturdays catching up and doing what I vowed to when I volunteered to take over leadership of ENCORE.

As you can see: the Championships Page on the League site has been updated and soon too shall the league archives. A new purpose and creed as well as a new logo is being designed. I have a favor to ask... who here would like to write faux newspaper articles based around competitions that ENCORE bands compete in? I myself will be writing some, however, I know that many of you compete far more readily than I do. Just a thought.

Also! Welcome to our new members! Good luck to everyone on Season 82! It has been a great honor seeing these bands grow and develop and become more competitive so that ENCORE BANDS MAY TRULY BE THE FINEST BANDS IN THE LAND.

Hello everyone! Planning for next season... who has some fun ideas for Encore for New Years Day?

I used to write more and am willing to kick in more once and awhile, I'll be trying to do same for CLASS.

Good evening, members of Encore!,

It has been far too long since I have written to you all. So, now we have all noticed the decline in active participation. I have been trying my hardest to bring new membership to FMA. Sadly, to no avail. Therefore, we must make the existing membership as active as possible! I myself have decided to cut my active drum corps and focus solely on Marching Band, Guard, and Drumline. I hope to increase my own activity and hope that the energy is contagious.

That being said: who has any ideas for a tour for season 85?

I'm kind of biased, but I would like a Canada tour ;)

But there are only like two cities in Canada! Hahaha joking! Seriously though... now, what about a commonwealth tour? Canada, British isles, etc?

For a Canada tour you could do:
Week 1/Opening Ceremonies: Montreal-Olympic Stadium
Week 2: Toronto-BMO Field or Rogers Centre, or Hamilton-Tim Horton's Field
Week 3: Winnipeg-Investors Group Field, or Regina-Mosaic Stadium
Week 4: Calgary-McMahon Stadium, or Edmonton-Commonwealth Stadium (I prefer Calgary because, well, I live there)
Week 5/Finals: Vancouver-BC Place

For a Commonwealth Tour:
Week 1: Australia-Melbourne Cricket Ground
Week 2: Singapore-National Stadium
Week 3: South Africa-FNB Stadium or India-Salt Lake Stadium
Week 4: Canada-BC Place or Olympic Stadium
Week 5: United Kingdom-Wembley Stadium or Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Yeah, I'm a stadium nerd.

To make sure ENCORE! continues, grows and thrives, I have taken over as Founder for the time. I have added the tour for this season. I made one error, the first show should be the Canadian not World Championship which of course is end of season. Please join tour as you are able and I apologize for the delay in getting the season set up. Anyone interested in joining, please let me know.

Dear ENCORE bands,

I am so very sorry about my random absences. I have no other excuse except for the pure madness that is happening right now. I never would have imagined these last few months of my senior year to be online learning. It’s been strange getting everything ready and sure so that I am ready to start college this fall. Lately, everything has been being settled, stores have asked us to sew masks, all the while trying to figure out if an when we will even have a graduation ceremony or a final concert for our band seniors! This week, finally, a lull, spring break and then it dawned on me that the new season started Monday, let alone what day is this even? Tuesday or Wednesday? It’s all been a blur.

However, between all of this spare time I now have on my hands, and DCI having been cancelled this summer, I should have plenty of hours to get creative about FMA. I also implore you all to use the free premium features on MML! It’s really fun! I tried it out last month.

My sincerest apologies, hope you all are safe and healthy, and best wishes for the future to come,

I really feel for seniors this year, most are getting the shaft when it comes to a normal experience!

Alrighty ENCORE,

Its Season 86 and the Leagues 35th Active Season! This league is composed of some of the most well known marching bands in FMA. We are proud to see new ensembles striving for the level of perfection that this league has potential for. Over the past seasons, ENCORE! has been the proud home of many World Champions from all 3 divisions of FMA.

How can we make this league more active? I would love to see new posts on this forum everyday! I would love to see people introducing their group's FMA show for the season! I would love to see everyone commenting on other groups shows and what they think or relations to current or former BOA and DCI/DCA! I would hope someday for some of us to have short talks about why we named our ensemble ____ or what style uniform our unit wears or the like. I hope to see as much or more of a buzz about our FMA bands and shows as there is about DCI and DCA!! Lets try for it shall we? Tossing some ideas out, hoping the league will continue to buzz!

Thank you all!!

I'll make the first post!

My marching band is called the Calgary Stetson Showband. This is the name of a real marching band I used to be a member of. Don't be fooled by the name "Showband", they are (in game and in real life) a corps style band. The confusion comes because outside of the US, the term showband refers not to an HBCU style band, but to any marching band that performs a field show, as these are significantly less common than in the US. The uniforms are black with a gold sash and white triangle, and we wear Stetson hats. To see the real uniforms, google us!

The show this season is titled "Black". For this show, the gold and white parts of our uniform heave been replaced with black elements, resulting in a completely black uniform.

The show explores many emotions that can be felt from the colour black, such as feelings of community, rejection, love, and fear. The show heavily features the clarinet and bass clarinet.

The movements are as follows, featuring the name of the movement, the name of the piece, and the original composer:
1) "Community"-Black by Marc Mellits
2)"Marginalized"-Black Skin, Black Masks by Shabaka Hatchings
3)"Love"-Blackbird by The Beatles
4) "Fear"-Black Dog by Frank McAllister

Schedule is up. If you want your show added to the schedule let me know your show date

Hello, if possible I would like an invite to the league for my marching band.

season 94 is UP! Also a special kick off show this season - Marching Elite Memorial to honor our founder, may he return soon!

Sorry just added CHAMPIONSHIP week