With today marking the first home football game, the Marching Band has been gearing up to make sure their first performance of the year is up and running smoothly.
Preparation starts with practice. Marching Band practices are every day after school, with Wednesday’s practices being a little later in the day. Before games, the band really focuses on polishing the routine.
“It’s just a lot of cleaning everything up, reps of the show,” sophomore flute player Sophia Lumetta said.
It’s up to band leaders, such as junior drum major Rylan Trotter and junior mentor Breanna Brinkman, to make sure that the band members are prepared as much as they can be. As a drum major, Trotter’s day starts off in front of a podium, as a leader for the band. For him, being a drum major is fulfilling his duty to the band.
“[It means] being a good face of the bands, being a good role model for students to come up to about anything, and someone that Dr. Curtis can rely on most,” Trotter said.
Brinkman’s job, as a student mentor, is to personally help students be the best they can, helping with timing, placement and performance.
“My favorite part about my role is the fact that I get to connect with all the people that I help, I like to get personal with them, to know what they’re struggling with and what I can help them with,” Brinkman said.
While practice can make close to perfect, it’s also important that the instruments are ready to support the band’s performances. Mellophones specifically, a bass instrument used by the band are polished and cleaned with valve oil and slide grease. The preparation ensures the mellophones are up to par with sound and performance.
“Our mellophones are basically similar to trumpets, so they’re our instrument and if our mellophones aren’t in top shape then we might end up sounding a bit bad…and having them nice and shiny-it just looks nice on the field,” junior Brinkman said.
Having good energy is also a key part of a good performance. Pre-game traditions change from section to section, but having traditions is a great way to bring the team together.
“All the flutes do a flute chant, right before the game, and then we do forehead kisses, and bun taps,” Lumetta says.
Forehead kisses are when the section leaders kiss their hands and then touch their player’s heads. Bun taps are where everyone taps their hair buns. It’s a fun thing to do together as a team. The first game means a lot to the marching band as a community.
“To be able to be on that field, as a student mentor this year, having helped so many of the freshmen, sophomores, juniors as well… it’s a piece of me on that field shown to everyone,” Brinkman said.
