Marching Hundred hopes for $25,000 in Hawaii Five-O theme song contest

Watch CBS’s Hawaii Five-O next Monday, and you might see a few familiar faces.

Voting ended yesterday for CBS’s Hawaii Five-O Marching Band Mania Contest, and the IU Marching Hundred are still in competition for a $25,000 reward. The Marching Hundred expects to be notified of their status by the end of the week.

The contest included submissions from 41 university bands across 33 states. The wining entry will win not only a cash reward for their band program, but also airtime during the Oct. 11 episode of the show.

Participants were invited to submit a video showing their own interpretation of the show’s award-winning theme song.

“It was just really fun to play my mellophone in my swimsuit, which I’ve never done before,” sophomore Paul Reinhart said.

The Marching Hundred’s two minute video is laced with Hawaiian flare. Band members and RedSteppers morph into beach wear halfway through the performance, and the RedSteppers perform a surf-style dance to the music.

Despite the lighthearted atmosphere of the video, Reinhart said he thought the band’s submission was a cut above.

“Our’s stands out, primarily because of the music,” Reinhart said.

Reinhart said it was also nice to step outside the realm of normal performance.

“It was really fun to actually have some competition because typically the college bands are just about supporting the football team and entertainment,” he said.

Senior and drum major Tonya Mitchell said the experience meant more than the potential for extra cash.

“It kind of unifies the marching band world,” Mitchell said.

With so many bands submitting videos, Mitchell said, the contest is a great way for Marching Hundred musicians to see the performances of bands across the country.

“It was a nice break from just constantly marching around on the field,” Mitchell said.

The band now performs Hawaii Five-O at football games, adding a new song and new formations to their repertoire. Mitchell said this makes the experience worthwhile even if the band doesn’t win.

For band director Dave Woodley, the experience was a rewarding one.

“It was just fun for everybody to participate as a team, to do this very unique thing as one big group,” he said.

Woodley said a win in the contest would mean good things for the Marching Hundred.

The majority of the money would go into purchasing new band instruments, but a portion would be used to throw the band a party during their road trip to Washington, D.C. for the Penn State-IU football game.

Woodley said he plans to continue to participate in similar contests, as long as the band has enough time in its busy schedule.

“The kids here are so talented and they’re such good students that we can put anything together musically in short period of time,” Woodley said.