About
The band has been here since Desert Ridge opened in 2002, with the same director the whole way. Here's who we are, what we've won, and how your student joins us.
Our purpose
Any student at Desert Ridge can learn music here, whether they have never held an instrument or have been playing for years. They rehearse together, compete together, and perform together, and what they take away from it lasts a lot longer than one season: showing up prepared, carrying a section when it counts, and staying with something hard until they get it.
Our ensembles
Marching Band
August to November · about 80 students
Friday night football, competition weekends, and community events around Mesa. This is the group most people picture when they think of the band, and it marches the ABODA circuit every autumn.
Wind Ensemble
School year · about 30 students
Our top concert group, and where a lot of players are aiming. They spend the spring at ABODA area and state concert festivals.
Symphonic Band
School year · about 30 students
Concert repertoire for players still building their chops. Plenty of students move up from here into the Wind Ensemble.
Percussion
School year · about 15 students
Concert, marching, and indoor percussion. These players turn up everywhere, and most of them are in a concert band too.
Jazz Black and Jazz Red
School year
Two jazz bands, learning improvisation and jazz theory and playing everything from swing through to contemporary. Both compete at ABODA jazz festivals.
Color Guard
August to November
Dance, equipment work, and performance on the field with the marching band every autumn.
Winterguard
Winter into spring
Indoor performance once marching season ends, competing through WGAZ.
Recent results
- A Superior rating for the Wind Ensemble at the 2026 ABODA Area Concert Festival.
- Third in Division II at the 2025 ABODA state marching championships.
- Third in Division II at the 2024 ABODA championships, with the Outstanding Auxiliary Performance award, and the AzMBA state title the same season.
- A Superior rating for Jazz Black at the 2024 ABODA Area Jazz Festival.
- Arizona state champions in 2023, Division II, taking the top score in four of the five captions, and the AzMBA state title in the same season.
- William E. Richardson Program of Distinction Award in 2022 and again in 2024.
The band marches the ABODA circuit every autumn and plays ABODA concert and jazz festivals through the spring. Every ensemble competes in ABODA. The AzMBA titles above are from the seasons the program marched that circuit.
Beyond performing
There is more to band than the field. Students study music theory, history, and composition alongside their playing. Drum majors, section leaders, and student committees hand them real responsibility, not a title to put on a form. And the band turns up all over Mesa: community events, parades, and service organizations that ask for us.
Joining
New students are welcome every year, and nobody needs years of experience to start. Ask us about auditions, registration, or anything else you are wondering about, and a parent on the board will get back to you.