The Valencia High School Marching Band and Color guard is set to host RAGNARÓK, the 10th Annual Valencia Field Tournament Friday. 

The event is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. at the Valencia High School Stadium, according to event organizers. 

“This event brings together some of the most radiant color guard pageantry and thrilling marching bands in Southern California as they all compete for first place,” officials said. 

This is an opportunity to see and hear talented students from across the valley perform, according to officials. 

Six Santa Clarita high schools are expected to compete, Castaic, Canyon, Golden Valley, Saugus, West Ranch and Valencia, according to officials. 

“Those who haven’t experienced one of these breathtaking performances are in for a treat,” event organizers said. “A marching band and color guard team work together to interpret a piece of music—over three or four movements—with sound, color, choreography, dance and decorations.” 

Some are highly theatrical, some are abstract and ethereal; all are guaranteed to amaze, according to officials.

Valencia High School’s 2022 program is called “The Raven.” Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, “The Raven,” the audience is taken into the narrator’s chamber as we follow his mental state while he longs for his lost love, Lenore. 

Dark flags represent the inner turmoil the narrator is feeling, while the music of “Night on a Balm Mountain” denotes pensiveness and anguish. 

As the music turns to “Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1,” the narrator gradually slips toward insanity when he is confronted by the raven. His attempts to shoo it away fail, which only deepens his despair and ultimately leads to his overwhelming hysteria, according to officials.

In the third movement, the music changes to the familiar yet discordant melodies of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” The Color Guard, representing The Raven throughout, break out their stunning mauveine capes, representing wings. In the final movement, the narrator, realizing the reality of his loss, succumbs to his despair.

Kelvin Flores, director of Instrumental Music at Valencia High School, describes Valencia’s “The Raven” performance as “an examination of mental wellness, and the importance of dominating negative thoughts by helping each other through turbulence and sorrow.”

Creating a performance like “The Raven” takes many months of planning, practicing and perfecting. 

Competition marching bands are judged artistically, musically and technically, so creating a show that sounds and looks amazing is typically the work of more than a hundred people, according to event organizers. 

The Valencia Band and Color Guard began implementing their show in July 2022, introducing the music and marching of the first part, learning the choreography of the color guard, the movement of the flags, the positioning of props, and on and on.

As the year went on the second musical movement was incorporated, additional choreography learned, and the entire show completed, according to officials. 

Students have spent up to 20 hours per week, every week, learning “The Raven”—a show that lasts only 7 minutes.

“We hope to see as many people as possible at the field show to support all these amazing high schools and experience the joy and amazement of a marching band competition,” Flores said. “We’re so proud of the show, so proud of the hard work our students have put in, and thrilled to be sharing our love of music and musical interpretation with the public.” 

In addition to the performance, there is set to be raffle prizes, food and merchandise. 

Admission to the event is $12.

To learn more about RAGNARÓK, the 10th Annual Valencia Field Tournament, click here.  

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