Competition Begins Among Top Black College
Marching Bands for 2011Honda Battle of the
Bands
Online Polls Now Open as 45 of the Nation’s Top HBCUs Vie for a Spot
September 10, 2010 09:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time
TORRANCE, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--A spot in the 2011 Honda Battle of the Bands
(www.hondabattleofthebands.com) Invitational Showcase is to a Historically Black College and University
(HBCU) marching band as a trip to Super Bowl XLV is to a professional football team. Scheduled to take place
Saturday, January 29th, the 2011 Invitational Showcase not only allows the top HBCU marching bands a once in
a lifetime opportunity to perform before 60,000 fans at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, but it also gives them the
chance to earn much-needed funding for their school’s music education programs. This week the competition for one
of the eight coveted spots begins, and HBCU marching band fans will have a hand in choosing the top bands.
The Honda Battle of the Bands (HBOB) Invitational Showcase is the world’s largest and most highly anticipated
HBCU musical event and scholarship program of its kind. The program, which will mark its ninth year in 2011, is a
platform to highlight and showcase the heritage and showmanship of the HBCU college marching bands and an
important facet of HBCU culture – music education. For the 2011 program, each of the 45 bands participating in
theCelebration Tour will receive a $1,000 grant for their music programs, with an additional $20,000 awarded to
the eight institutions selected to advance to the 2011 Invitational Showcase.
The “Celebration Tour,” the route participating bands must take to qualify for a spot in the Invitational
Showcase, kicks off this weekend with the first of ten stops at Howard University in Washington, DC. During the
Celebration Tour, fans can witness the unique, precision marching styles, as well as the spirited dance team
choreography and pageantry that make the HBCU marching band experience one-of-a-kind. The beginning