After two hard months of practice, the marching band players are in mid-swing of what is their favorite time of year: competition season.

“Sometimes it gets boring doing all of the practicing all of the time,”
junior Kayleen Lindstrom said. “But competition is what everyone is in band for. It’s what makes all of the practices worth it.”

One issue that had plagued the band this year is their size. Down from 98 members to 87, the decrease in students has left many wondering why kids are not coming out.

“Smaller numbers mean its harder to be effective musically,” Band director Jeff Moorman said. “It’s like fighting without replacement troops, only using 10 speakers when you could have 20. I don’t think its frustrating [but] we’re judged subjectively
not objectively.

It’s based on someone’s opinion not how many points we score like a sports team
[and] that can be frustrating.”

The smaller size, however, has not had as negative of an impact on competition performance as some originally thought. In their first four competitions, marching band and color guard took first in their division at Belleville East; color guard took
first in O’Fallon, IL and Belleville.

However, their true test will be this upcoming weekend when they play at the Greater St. Louis Marching Band Festival at the Edward-Jones Dome.

“We have a really tough last competition,” Moorman said. “So I hope they’re willing to put in the time needed to do well and succeed. It’s really tough.”