The marching band is coming ”Back in Black” with their half-time show featuring popular songs by AC DC, Metallica, and The Rolling Stones. Despite how put together the marching band has looked these past few football games, they have experienced many challenges that they have had to overcome. Each section has their own challenges that are different from the others.
The high brass (Mellophones and trumpets) have struggled with the more complicated music this year.
“The biggest challenge has been getting everyone to have the music memorized,” Trumpet section leader, J.R. Drewes said. “But also to be confident enough to play that while marching in the show.”
Similarly, the Mellophones also struggled with marching and playing
music.
”The biggest challenge for us is the ability to play at the same time while marching,” Toby Herrman, Mellophone trumpet leader, said. ”It takes a lot more air and a lot more stability. Plus you have to focus on tempo.”
Both sections have spent a lot of time working on their challenges. Both section leaders have worked with their group and have overcome their struggles. The Low brass section has struggled with communication issues and the new addition of props. The section leaders have worked with their groups a lot inside and outside of school, eventually overcoming their challenges as well.
“All of the new stuff with the props and the visuals and how complicated the drills are,” Adin Casey, one of the low brass section leaders, said. ”We just haven’t had that for the previous three years. It was so new.”
Through constant drill, the low brass and their section leaders have smoothed out their rough edges and have become used to the new addition of props despite their previous chal- lenges.
The Woodwinds have also been dealing with difficult tasks relating to the addition of props and the more complicated visuals.
“We’re going from more of a militaristic kind of marching to an almost theater type of marching,” Flute section leader Josie Schmitt said. “Plus with the props and such, we’re all just still kind of getting used to that change”.
The woodwinds have also faced challenges with communication, similar to the low brass this year.
“We had a lot of freshmen this year and they blended in with the band,” Sarah Myerscough, the clarinet section leader, said. “But while they were blending in it was a struggle to get everyone listening.”
The Woodwinds have been able to fix these problems by being more direct and honest with everybody instead of trying to be a friend. Section leaders also discussed that the lack of a band trip this spring has affected not necessarily the motivation of seniors during the show, but the motivation to fundraise and convince people to join the marching band.
“That was a big let down for some, a lot of people had been saving up to go on their senior trip to make it more memorable,” Herrmann said. “I know personally I was disappointed, but a lot of the seniors were struggling with that.”
