D’Evelyn honored after winning 9th marching band state title

DENVER — D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School honored one of the school’s most accomplished programs Thursday afternoon with an all-school assembly.

The D’Evelyn Marching Band captured its ninth Colorado Bandmasters Association’s state championship title Nov. 1. The Jaguars won the Class 3A title with a final’s score of 82.850 at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s ThunderBowl Stadium.

It was the first marching band state competition in two years for Colorado. The Colorado Bandmasters Association decided to cancel the Fall 2020 competitive season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a senior and having won every state championship since my freshman year it was a little bit expected, but we always don’t want to take it for granted,” D’Evelyn senior Jordan Kyler said of another state title for the Jaguars. “We were still pushing all the members of the band to keep working hard.”

D’Evelyn didn’t miss a beat this year. The Jaguars took first place in 3A at the Jeffco Marching Festival, Legacy Marching Festival, Bands of America – West Texas Regional, 4A/3A/2A Metro Regionals, Arapahoe Marching Festival, along with the state title.

They also finished first overall at the Jeffco Marching Festival and 4A/3A/2A Metro Regionals.

“It was five years of championships when I took the job,” said D’Evelyn marching band director Becky Paschke, who is in her sixth year at the helm of the Jaguars’ music programs. “There was an expectation to have a lot of success. Luckily, we have pulled it off.”

To keep the music going in 2020, D’Evelyn split up its marching band into four cohorts — wood winds, brass, percussion and color guard. 

“We wanted to make sure we kept training the kids and having them opportunities for them to be social,” Paschke said. “With all the skills they build during the COVID year we applied for the Presidential Inauguration.” 

D’Evelyn’s marching band had a virtual performance that was aired during President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

“We continued working on difficult music so we were still getting better with the music,” said Kyler, who was one of D’Evelyn’s drum majors this year. “We kept everyone encouraged and keep going. We used it as a community event to keep people going through COVID.”

Many marching bands across the state were down when it came to participation this season. D’Evelyn kept its numbers up with 105 members.

Just like many of the high school sports, music has become a year-round activity.

“The marching band kids will go into symphonic band, but we continue to have color guard and percussion have winter programs that are competitive as well,” Paschke said. “It never stops.”

The future of the marching band program at D’Evelyn plans to continue its upward trajectory. The Jaguars competed in their first out-of-state competition this year with the Bands of America – West Texas Regional. Paschke hopes to broaden D’Evelyn’s scope.

“Our goal next year or the year after we would like to go to national contests to we how we do nationally,” Paschke said.