Mountain Ridge’s Pride of the West Marching Band concluded their fall season on November 16th at the ABODA State Championship, hosted at Glendale Community College. The band, performing their 2024 production Heart of Steel, won the competition with a score of 91.338 and the caption awards for Percussion, Auxiliary (Color Guard), Visual Performance, and General Effect. Ridge narrowly clinched first place over a Tempe rival school, Corona Del Sol, which received a score of 91.150 and won the caption award for Music Performance.
Ridge’s ABODA championship victory was reflective of an overall successful season for the marching band. For instance, Pride of the West won the AZMBA Championship at Hamilton High School on November 9th with a score of 89.888 and all caption awards. Furthermore, they won the ABODA Semi-Finals at Desert Vista High School with a score of 92.156 and four out of five caption awards—all but Percussion. The band garnered high scores and generous praise all throughout the season, thanks to the countless hours contributed by hard-working students, staff, and parents. Another notable detail to add to these impressive achievements? It was all orchestrated by a first year band director.
Jeffery Malone took over as band director after the departure of former director Aaron Vogel. Vogel directed Pride of the West for eight school years before leaving this year to take a job at the Arizona Department of Education. Under Vogel’s leadership, Ridge’s marching band rose to become the best in the state in 2019, 2022, and 2023. To fill his shoes was a tall order, but Malone managed to rise to the occasion, fostering a supportive environment that allowed his band to perform their best.
Prior to his time at Ridge, Malone was no stranger to directing a marching band. “Before I came to Mountain Ridge this year, I was director of bands at Peoria High School for the last six years,” Malone comments. Malone also helped run several programs at other Arizona schools, such as the University of Arizona, Prescott High School, Casteel High School, and Cienega High School. Malone includes, “I had the opportunity to work with a few different programs, and Peoria was the first one I actually worked at as the director.” This experience would prove useful in rallying the band during the 2024 season.
“It’s been a really enjoyable year,” Malone reflects on his first marching season at Ridge. Assimilating into Pride of the West was a welcome challenge for the director. Connecting with the infrastructure Vogel left wasn’t without its difficulties—on both sides, as Malone points out: “On the student half, that change is really challenging, but it’s tough on my end too.” However, students, staff, and parents welcomed Malone’s leadership, and he believes that the transition of power “went pretty well overall.” Just as the band learned from Malone, Malone learned from the band, growing to reconcile their differences and merge their own unique visions for the program. As these connections flourished, so did Pride of the West, as Malone describes: “It’s been great to see the program and the show improve from the first time we ran it back in May.”
Still, as with any great success story, the hard work of all those involved was the driving force behind the marching band’s numerous victories. Student band members spent hours and hours over the course of their weeks. “It’s rehearsals a couple nights a week and football games and festivals too,” Malone explains. “Even before the school year starts, there’s summer camps and band camps and rehearsals over summer.” Parents, referred to in tongue-and-cheek as the “Band-Aids” or “Ridge Roadies”, also contribute by setting up props and equipment on the field, providing water for students, chaperoning for Band Camp, preparing uniforms, running events and competitions, and more. “They do everything for us,” Malone says, commending the tireless efforts of these band parents. “There’s so much that goes into it behind the scenes, even what goes past beyond normal rehearsal times.”
Malone’s first marching band season at Mountain Ridge is a story of success. It’s the story of a first year director that filled the void of a long-time leader, propelling the program he took over to victory. The Pride of the West’s story is just as much a tale of triumph. It’s a story of unrelenting tenacity through countless hours spent at rehearsals, parades, and competitions, all while adjusting to new leadership. Now, with the marching season’s end, Malone has his sights set on the future. “We are full into concert season now, we just did auditions for our jazz band, our color guard is off doing their indoor season,” Malone expounds on the more immediate future of Ridge’s bands. In the long-term, Malone believes the program has some “strong future leaders,” ready to carry on the efforts of their predecessors. “I think there’s a great junior class this year that will be ready to step up as seniors next year, and the freshman and sophomores are strong as well.” As Malone soldiers on in his time at Ridge, alongside his program, they will only grow and build upon the foundation laid in their first season of pride.
