Grammy Award Winning Mira Costa Bands

Under the direction of Joel Carlson, the GRAMMY® award winning Mira Costa Bands are part of the comprehensive music department at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, CA, and have been hailed by professional critics and adjudicators alike for fantastic performances of advanced high school, collegiate and professional repertoire in concerts, festivals and competitions from coast to coast. The bands have entertained crowds of thousands at large concert venues in the South Bay and were featured in their Carnegie Hall debut on the Spring 2016 Concert Series of Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY).  The Bands and Colorguard have been most recently invited to perform at the 2022 National Concert Band Festival hosted by ‘Pershing’s Own” in Washington D.C. From the Concert Ensembles to Jazz Band, Marching Band & Colorguard, Winterguard and Indoor Drumline, the Mira Costa Bands provide a breadth of opportunity to students to perform at the highest level of excellence.

To find out more about our programs, go to the “Programs” tab above, click “Join” and then select the button for the specific program you’d like to learn about.

Student Info


Please check out the information and music for the 2025/2026 placement assessments.

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