Marching Band Tunes Into a New Year

This years marching band, composed of 76 members, will be taking the field performing their show “Battle of the Brothers.” Drum major Jordan Baskin says that with the music and drill, this is one of the harder shows they have done. The show is about a battle between the three main brothers in greek mythology. The first movement is devoted to Poseidon. The second movement is devoted to Hades, and the third movement is devoted to Zeus. At the very end of the third movement there is a big battle within the music.

To get the show performance ready the band has a week of camp in the summer and early morning practices everyday at 7a.m. “Some mornings it’s rough to get up, but in the end I think it will be worth it,” mentions Baskin. She also said that the early morning practices are the only way the eighth graders can participate. The section leaders have to go through two weeks of band camp, one week before the full band, so they can be prepared to help their section better.  This  year’s section leaders are Emily Jones (flutes), Hannah Mallard and Allison Murrill (clarinets), Austen Rector (saxophones), Kayla Bruemmer and Courtney Patten (high brass), Jaycob Kirtlink and Mattie Cobban (low brass), and Kaily Breckner and Austin Masters (percussion).

The band performs at all of the home football games as well as competitions throughout the fall. They have three competitions this year. On October 4th they have the Valhalla competition at Parkview. On October 11th they have the Ozarko competition at MSU, and on October 18th they have the Reeds Spring competition. Baskin states, “I am looking forward to Ozarko the most because its the biggest competition we go to and it gives us the chance to compete with some bigger and better bands.” The bands journey doesn’t end there though. In May of 2015 the band will be headed to Washington D.C. for their every other year band trip. They will be selling beef jerky sticks and chocolate bars, along with working stands at the fall festival and MSU games to fundraise for the trip.