Choctaw Marching Band Expands Its Reach Beyond Campus
The ensemble embraces new opportunities as it redefines its role.
The Choctaw Marching Band is entering a new chapter this year, broadening its performances and adapting to a changing campus landscape. The band is shifting its focus from primarily at-home performances to seeking out off-campus opportunities, showcasing its talent, and recruiting new members.
This fall, the group performed at two high school exhibitions—the CD Hagan Invitational at Brandon High School on Sept. 20 and the Copiah Academy Marching Festival in early October. The band also joined the Mississippi State Fair’s Great American Parade on Oct. 13, part of the nationwide America 250 celebration.
On July 4, 2026, the Choctaws will travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in the semiquincentennial parade. Mississippi College will be the only school representing the Magnolia State.
Duval Salvant, MC’s band director, explained how recent institutional changes have given the band new opportunities to take its shows beyond MC’s campus. “The big thing is that we will be recruiting more,” Salvant said. “Instead of being at football games and playing halftime shows there, we are going out to the high schools and getting to play for them directly, instead of them having to come to us.”
While the director is confident in this new direction, he assured the band would still be involved on campus. Mississippi College’s homecoming weekend in late October will be a significant opportunity to perform at home. “We will still do our halftime show there like we would at a normal football game,” Salvant said. “We will be on the quad playing and we will still be participating in the parade throughout the city. We still have some normalcy.”
Lori Madison, a junior at MC and co-captain of the color guard, gave her perspective on how the band will operate differently. “I am most excited for homecoming just to see what is going to be different about it,” Madison said. “The opportunity to participate in parades is also really interesting.”
Madison also explained how the changes at MC have allowed the band to explore its own identity outside of sports-related performances. “We get to have different kinds of performances,” Madison said. “In the past, we have mostly been a way to show school spirit. Now, we are able to branch out and become a band more independently of other organizations.”
The band member shared her hopes for the year. “My main hope, with the opportunities that we’ve been granted this year, such as our various exhibition performances, is that we are able to perform well enough and at a high enough standard to be able to continue getting those opportunities in the future and to really solidify our reputation among others as a good, high-achieving band,” Madison said.