Rock Hill Greg Jansen, a percussionist for the Irmo High School Band, exuded the confidence and polish of a veteran champion Saturday.

"Sure, there's pressure," he said, hours before Irmo was handed its ninth-straight state Class 5A band championship in Rock Hill. "But the pressure comes from ourselves."

Jansen had even prepared himself mentally -- just in case.

"My mom told me that everything has to end sometime," he said.

Jansen's smart to resist the natural cockiness that comes with winning. After all, at 13, he still has many state competitions -- not to mention a growth spurt -- ahead of him.

Kenneth Turner has been Irmo's band director for two years and was an assistant for four years before that. Young and trim, he talks and carries himself like a soldier. This is perhaps the inevitable result of years of marching and barking orders.

Turner can't put his finger on exactly how Irmo separates itself from the other 14 Class 5A schools at the competition. "We demand excellence from ourselves," he said. "But I guess every band director says the same thing, and I'm not taking anything away from them."

Jansen joined the band because his older brother had. This is the typical band story, and almost everyone at Rock Hill High School Stadium had at least one other family member also in attendance.

Charles Butler was there because of his daughter, Lori, a flutist for Lexington High. "All the volunteers here are mothers and dads of band members," Butler said, before he rushed to load xylophones and drums onto a trailer.

After following bands for several years, some parents are reluctant to let go just because their children have graduated.

Bill Stikeleather had driven a truck for Northwestern's band for nine years. Though his two sons have graduated, Stikeleather still drives as far as Daytona, Fla., and St. Louis to do his part for the school.

Like almost everyone else there Saturday, Stikeleather had his heart on knocking out Irmo.

"They have a good program," he acknowledged. "But there are 14 other outstanding bands here who would love to beat them."

Band fans are not unlike any other breed of enthusiast. They wear specialty T-shirts boasting of past successes; they even have their own political crusade. Several pages of this year's program -- which sold out in two hours -- were devoted to the S.C. Band Directors Association's initiative to exempt band members from physical education classes.

While many of the bands performed classical-music-inspired programs, Rock Hill Stadium had none of the hushed solemnity of a concert hall.

There were raucous cheers as the bands took and departed the field, and any moments of silence were pierced by personal shouts of encouragement.

"I love you, Casey," yelled one fan of a particular Lexington performer.