On Friday night football games. the lights hit the stands, while the air is cold and the football players head off the field during halftime. As the Marching Band yells, “WE WILL PERFORM”, they take their first steps on to the field. The 15 minute halftime period is just enough for them to showcase the amazing work, time, effort, and proficiency they put into everything they do. As flags swing and instruments blow, they soon run off the field, as the crowd yells and cheers for them. But little do people know how much time and effort is spent on this sport. Yes, Marching Band is a sport. It starts from the 1st rehearsal and makes its way to the final performance.
¨There is so much more to Marching Band than people think,¨ Zach Hansen, a senior marcher in Marching Band states. ¨It takes a lot of work to take a 7 minute show, and make it as perfect as it possibly can be with all the marching, playing, and dancing.¨ But, the first step to getting to this sport starts at summer band camp, the hardest 2 weeks the band has to face. These 2 weeks consist of basic marching skills, scales, and drill. Drill is the way the band moves on the field, as it assigns everyone a dot or spot on the field. After the hard push through these 2 long weeks with 8 hour rehearsals each day, they move to Monday and Wednesday rehearsals. Even though there are only 2 rehearsals during the school week, they are still 3 hours, and require full attention and willingness to push. These rehearsals can be very difficult, Zach shares, stating, ¨I try to go into rehearsals with a positive attitude, and I hope that rubs off on other people and makes everybody´s rehearsal better.¨ By doing this, it allows everyone to stay positive and focused though the rehearsal process.
As well as rehearsals throughout the week, members of the Marching Band must still find time to practice outside of rehearsal and class time. ¨I try to practice 2 or 3 times a week outside of our regular practices,¨ Zach says. Practice is important. Jenna Kitterman, a 5th year in Color Guard, as well as a captain says, ¨I try to practice every day, but if I’m not able to, I look over videos to make sure I comprehend our materials/choreography.¨ Practice is important. Individuals always watch their favorite athletes because they are good and never miss a free throw shot, but they got to the point of where they are because of the work, time, and effort they put in and off the court. The same process goes for Marching Band. It’s a matter of how much work marchers put in outside of rehearsals.
This year’s Marching Band show is called, Heartless, which is about the life of the Queen of Hearts, and how she goes mad. The Band sets the show in the Queen’s garden, where everyone lives happily, until she goes mad. Jenna will be playing the role of the Queen of Hearts. She states, ¨I hope when I play this role the audience sees a band that is proud of the show we created and the transitions of the Queen of Hearts’ emotions throughout the performance.¨ As Jenna takes on this massive role she is ¨excited, but nervous,¨ she explains. One of Jenna’s peers, Zach, will be playing the love interest, stating, ¨I am very excited to have a main role in this year´s show because I get to show off all the hard work I have put in these past 4 years.¨ As Jenna and Zach get suited up to play these major roles, they hope the audience will see how much time, work, and effort they put in.
¨I hope that when the audience sees our band they can feel the hours and hours of hard work put into improving the show and making it the best it can be,¨ Zach proudly states. It’s every person’s dream to see the hard work that they do pay off one day. Zach says, ¨My favorite part of Marching Band is the moment right after you finish a performance, you are completely worn out and have no energy, but, you know that you gave your audience the best show possible and left everything on the field.¨ Everyone hopes to leave their best performance out on the table when they finish a game or performance, because they know they gave it everything. They gave it their all!
Marching Band is a sport, but it’s truly more than that. It´s a family, it´s a home, where everyone there is willing to put the work, time, and effort into it. They are willing to leave everything out there with each performance, whether it be a football game or a competition. They are willing to put the work outside of rehearsal and class time. This is what it means to be in Marching Band, and has kept kids like Zach and Jenna coming back for all 4 years of high school. Zach states, ¨I have returned to Marching Band year after year because I never found a better sense of camaraderie anywhere in high school than in Marching Band.¨
