Western Band Association

Logo
Abbreviation	WBA
Formation	1979; 45 years ago (1979)
Founders	Mike Rubino Ramiro Barrera Dan Smith Gary Runsten Mel Stratton
Type	501(c)(3) organization
Tax ID no.	01-0560311
Purpose	To ensure a high quality, educationally sound performing experience in full support of the total band program
Headquarters	Chino, California
Region	California Nevada Arizona
Executive Director	Rob van Loben Sels
Adjudicator Coordinator	Mike Stone George Oliviero
Event Director	Brian Nunez
Formerly called	Western States Marching Band Conference (WSMBC)

The Western Band Association (WBA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes high school music education in California, Arizona and Nevada. Specifically, the WBA organizes marching band competitions for high school students. Its championships event is considered to be the among the largest marching band championships in the United States.^[1]

In addition to marching band events, WBA also organizes concert band festivals, symposia, and musical and leadership clinics. In 2008, over 12,000 students in 133 bands performed in WBA events in multiple competitions hosted throughout the state.^[1]

The Western Band Association was started in 1979 by marching band directors from five Northern and Central California high schools: Mike Rubino (Live Oak High School), Ramiro Barrera (James Logan High School), Dan Smith (Independence High School), Gary Runsten (Modesto High School) and Mel Stratton (Clovis High School).

In 1984, Gary Gilroy (Moreau High School) coined the name "WSMBC" Western States Marching Band Conference, which would later be shortened to WBA by Ramiro Barrera (James Logan High School) in 2002. The first WSMBC Championship was held in conjunction with the 1984 Music Bowl Prelims at James Logan High School. In 1995, John Hannan (Mission Viejo High School) helped expand the organization's efforts to include Southern California bands as well.

In recent years,^[when?] bands have also competed under the "WBA" banner from nearby states, including Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. The scoring system also grew to become a two-tiered criteria based curriculum designed for bands of various size memberships, assuring that the small band would have the same opportunity as the large band to achieve a high score measuring their unique orchestration and design options.

In 2006, the competition schedule has grown to offer consecutive contests in each of the three Regions (Northern, Central and Southern California) helping to alleviate the costs of travel for the bands.

In 2012, James Logan High School and Ayala High School tied for first place at the WBA Championships, with both scoring 93.40. However, the tie was broken based on Ayala's General Effect score. The tiebreaker settled Ayala as the WBA Champions.

The WBA organizes a marching band circuit with competitions held throughout October and November leading up to the circuit championship competition.

Available classes:

Below is an incomplete table of class alignments based on number of performers. Classes were re-aligned in 2021, 2023, and 2024.^[2]

Class champions are determined at the conclusion of preliminary competition. After prelims, the bands then move on to one of two finals competitions: the A/AA/AAA Championship and the AAAA/AAAAA Championship. The top three bands from each division move on to their respective championship and the remaining field is filled by the next highest scoring bands.

The Finals field is composed of:

• The top 3 bands from each of Class A, AA, and AAA, then the next highest 6 bands from those 3 classifications combined (regardless of class and score) for a total of 15 bands in finals.
• The top three bands from each of Class AAAA and AAAAA, then the next highest 9 bands from those 2 classifications combined (regardless of class and score) for a total of 15 bands in finals.

Each individual judge is assigned to a specific caption (Individual and Ensemble Music, Individual and Ensemble Visual, General Effect, Auxiliary, and Percussion). General Effect and Music are each worth 30% of the total score, Visual is worth 20%, and Auxiliary and Percussion are each worth 10%.

Awards are released by division. The band with the highest award points for each caption per division is awarded a caption award, while the band with the most overall points in each division is awarded first place-prize. The band with most points in A/AA/AAA combined classes and AAAA/AAAAA combined classes are awarded a "sweepstakes award", with that band removed from the rankings of their class; the next band in placement in that class is moved to "first place" and so on (only for that class). Each competition will have two Sweepstakes winners, one each for A/AA/AAA and AAAA/AAAAA.

Below is an incomplete list of past class champions and sweepstakes winners:

Previously known as the Class A/AA Championship.

Previously known as the AAA/AAAA Championship.

The 2021 season concluded with a series of Regional Championships.

• Bands of America
• Northwest Association for Performing Arts
• Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association
• Tournament of Bands

• Official website