Burbank scores two decisive wins, Oceanside dominates intermediate, the two tales of Bonita Vista and two division wins for Eisenhower highlight this week’s action.
John Burroughs Music Showcase
Results
Advanced Mixed Tier I
1st: Burbank “In Sync” (Music, Show)
2nd: Diamond Bar “Marquis”
3rd: Hart “Sound Vibrations”
Advanced Mixed Tier II
1st: Brea Olinda “Masquerade” (Show)
2nd: Helix “HLX” (Music)
3rd: Chaparral “Platinum FX”
Intermediate Mixed
1st: Oceanside “Soundwaves” (Music, Show)
2nd: Hart “Hart ‘n Soul”
3rd: Los Altos “LA Dynamix”
Novice Mixed Large
1st: Eisenhower “Ike Singers” (Music, Show)
2nd: Granada Hills “G-Notes”
3rd: Diamond Bar “Diamondtones”
Novice Mixed Small
1st: Saugus “Blue Heat” (Music, Show)
2nd: Western Sierra “The Alphas”
Advanced Womens
1st: Burbank “Impressions” (Music, Show)
2nd: Hart “Hartbreakers”
3rd: Brea Olinda “Spellbound”
Intermediate Womens
1st: Bonita Vista “Sound Unlimited” (Music)
2nd: Diamond Bar “Solitaire” (Show)
3rd: Brea Olinda “Tiffanys”
Novice Womens
1st: Eisenhower “Ikettes” (Music, Show)
2nd: Chaparral “Dynamics”
3rd: Western Sierra “Sierra Serenade”
Mens
1st: Hart “Unleashed” (Music, Show)
2nd: Helix “TBH”
3rd: Diamond Bar “Radiant”
Come what may in a week’s time, it is clear that Burbank is still a member of California’s Big Three. While they have seen Los Alamitos and John Burroughs sparingly since 2019, they have repeatedly shown that they are the class of everybody else in the state. Both of their groups took both major captions in their respective divisions.
After playing undercard to the Big Three in Advanced Mixed I for many years, Brea Olinda dropped down to Advanced II and that seems to be much more their pace right now. Masquerade split captions with Helix, who now has a pair of second-place finishes on the year. Save for Masquerade, it was not the greatest night for Brea, with a pair of third-place finishes in womens divisions.
Oceanside continued their roll this season, picking up their third division win in four tries. While this intermediate division was not the toughest in existence, Soundwaves have now defeated many of the choirs in that division throughout the season between Burbank, Hart and Burroughs.
Bonita Vista is one of California’s longest-standing choirs and has been a stalwart of the high intermediate-low advanced division. However, Michael Atwood and Colden Lamb took over program this year in place of Ron Bolles, who retired at the end of 2022 to cap off an epic career that saw him found the show choir program in 1975. That’s 48 years, for those counting. The Music Machine has had less than stellar results this year, as evidenced by its last-place finish in Advanced II. The same could’ve been said for its womens group, Sound Unlimited. Notice the past tense – Sound Unlimited popped off for a two-caption win in intermediate womens, taking down Diamond Bar, Brea Olinda and Helix.
Hart brought four choirs to Music Showcase and had a win in the mens division, second-place showings in intermediate mixed and intermediate womens, and a third-place showing in advanced mixed I. Sarah Anders has brought Sound Vibrations to near the top of Advanced Mixed II for a few years – is the step up to Advanced Mixed I here the start of something to come?
Between its two choirs, Eisenhower was 0-for-4 in division wins entering Burroughs. After Burroughs? 2-for-6. Ike Singers and Ikettes both swept musicianship and showmanship to bring a taste of victory to the program this year. The significance of this is that it extends a streak for Ike Singers of capturing at least one division win each season. Not counting the nonexistent 2021 season and an abridged 2020 season, Ike Singers has won a division every year since 2013. Not bad for a group that doesn’t get as much attention performing in novice mixed.
In novice mixed small, Saugus picked up its third showmanship award of the year en route to its second division win. They had previously matched up with Ike Singers at Burbank and came out on the lower end of that battle, but it would have been fun to see where both groups matched up a month and a half later.
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