Marching Band kicks off season                                                                                   

By Liv Palubeckis

Tensions were high as the last bell on Friday, September 23rd finally rang. The marching band’s first performance was quickly approaching, as well as our first competition, and nerves were just starting to make a first appearance.

The makeup look is starting to get a bit stressful: black eyeliner, silver eyeshadow that’s more black than silver, and finally some black lipstick. There are eight people in the pit and only three of us can do makeup, so stress is high. The guard also does the same makeup look, except they also slick their hair back into a ponytail or just out of their faces.

Friday’s performance started off strong. Rehearsal before the game was pretty good, and then the guard and the pit were dismissed to start makeup and hair. Then, the uniforms came out. Everyone changed and then made their way to the practice field to warm up.

Shortly after the banner, the hornline and battery came up from the turf to the bleachers until the second quarter. At halftime, it was nerve-wracking to try and plug all of the cords in the pit. But regardless of some mistakes, the performance didn’t go too badly! Back up to the band room to change out of uniforms and then back to the bleachers for the rest of the game, which the band hardly played for.

Saturday came quickly. Rehearsal and the full runs before it ended were not great. We had to rush to move all of our equipment up from the turf to the trailers next to the bleachers, then proceed to rush to change into the bottom half of uniforms and do makeup. Since only one person could do their own makeup and two people could do their own and other people’s, tension and stress was high. But it got done.

Later on the bus, the experience was fun for the first competition; one of the buses had a speaker and the other bus was just as fun! At the competition, in Medford, warming up was a strange experience; there was an entire road separating the pit from the rest of the band and the drum major was behind the pit as well. Then, as the performance time approached, the nerves started. Since rehearsal hadn’t gone well before, people were nervous about it. However, luck was on the band’s side because there was an intermission right before our performance, meaning we didn’t have to rush to set up.

Then showtime. Everything went really well, even the last movement which hadn’t gone the best in rehearsal. A few minor tempo issues that were quickly fixed, a few falls on the field, not good but also not horrible.

Awards were next. We won second place and won best music and percussion, which was kind of surprising since movement three wasn’t finished yet. It was a long bus ride home, lots of tired people but also lots of really hyped people. Our next performance is at North Middlesex, only a thirty-minute drive from here so be sure to try to make it there! As the band goes into this week, there’s lots of excitement and anticipation for a much better show on Friday and Saturday!

WORDS from the crew:

Ryan Arsenault: “There is room for so much improvement but that is improvement we will deliver. Gonna kill it at finals.”

Viv Valley: “Saturday everyone was kinda nervous going into it, especially with the show not being finished, but it was really good with what we did have and I’m happy with what we put out there.”

Olivea Carrigan: “On Friday the overall vibe was pretty positive, everyone was excited to be there and were happy with the show!”

Kielyn Demoura, drum major: “I can’t wait to put more out there next competition!”

Nola Patty:  “It was really cool to be on the field with all the rookies; I know first competitions can be scary but we did an amazing job and I can’t wait for next weekend!”

Callie Robertson: “We did really good for guard especially since we have so many rookies and they’re all on flag, I thought we did a lot better than people thought we would do; I expected to get fourth but I think we did a really good job!”

Joe Barrows: “The competition was great, we started off the season well, we almost have our full show out there, it was a great starting point and I’m excited to see where we go from now!”

Link to performance: