Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Sunday, October 30, 2011

• Channel 13's video on demand 

True to its final performance, called "Shine," defending champion Paul Laurence Dunbar High School captured its seventh state marching band title.

Lafayette High was runner-up in the Class 5A showdown Saturday night at Western Kentucky University's stadium. That's exactly how the perennial rivals ended up last year.

Lafayette, whose show was titled "Shadows of Eternity," has won 16 state championships. Since 1990, these two schools have dominated the Kentucky Music Educators Association's contests.

Twenty bands in five classes competed in the 2011 championships. Tates Creek High was sixth and Henry Clay eighth in their division. It was the first time four Lexington bands finished in the top 8 in Class 5A.

Bands are divided into classes 1A through 5A based on high school enrollment. They are judged on musical performance, visual performance and general effect – everything from individual posture and spacing to intonation and overall sound. 

Archives

With a son at Dunbar and a daughter at Lafayette, one family's loyalties are divided ...

Read more news and features in FCPS