The West High marching band season is now in full swing, and there’s a lot more effort that has been put into it than many realize.
The band’s first performance was on September 15 at the West Homecoming football game, where they performed the first movement of their show. The show for this year’s season is called “Into the Stars”, featuring songs from the musical “The Greatest Showman”, famous musician Phil Collins, and more.
To start the season off, the drum line of the marching band started a ‘camp’ held at West High in July, while the rest of the marching band and color guard began their camp later in August. Each day, aside from the weekends, students came for four hours a day and stood in the hot sun while learning marching basics. Many other students can relate when Senior Elizabeth Ernst says, “My least favorite part of band camp is THE HEAT.”
This year has had its fair share of up’s and down’s for the directors and the students. Due to the amount of newcomers this year, marching has been the main skill they strive to build up. Being able to get everyone to take the right steps, and get everyone in time has not been an easy feat for the student section leaders, which help lead their instrument sections.
The band is getting ready for their first competition on September the 23rd at Linn-Mar High School. This event kicks off the competitive year for the band, and helps the students get to know what they’re getting themselves into. At this competition, each band performs and is then given constructive criticism to help them grow. This season, they will have four competitions and will perform at five home football games.
The marching band and color guard would really appreciate students and community members coming out and watching their performances! So much time and effort is put into their shows, and to have people come and enjoy them makes it all worth while.
