Big things sometimes come in small packages. Or in the case of the Chandler High School and Prague High School marching bands, small numbers.
While the two are the smallest in the area, they are preparing programs of epic proportions for this year’s marching season -- “The Ballad of Georgia Graves” for Chandler and “World of Warcraft” for Prague.
Chandler Director Zachary Fisher -- who’s in his second year at Chandler -- said he isn’t sure just how he came up with the concept, only that he had been toying around with the idea of doing aWestern.
He said he was talking to the color guard tech, Tylie Roberts, and the story came to him. He created the storyline and plot, then started coming up with the music. His drill writer gave him the idea of using the theme from “Twister,” and an epic was created.
“I don’t want to give too much away about it, but it’s a really cool story,” he said. “The word I keep coming back to is cinematic. So, I want it to feel like you’ve just turned on the TV and we’re watching an episode of Bonanza or Gunsmoke or something like that.”
The program tells the story of Georgia Graves and her crusade to avenge the death of her husband, Fisher said. Senior and one of three drum majors Bethany Descher plays the title role, with monologues written by Chandler grad Trevor Spruill, along with other storytelling elements sprinkled throughout.
The program is challenging and ambitious, but Fisher is optimistic.
“They’re catching on quick. I think we’re going to be fine. Yeah. It's going a touch slower maybe than I wanted, but I think we're going to be okay," he said. The students are up for the challenge. Descher said the program is very technical, and there are moments when it's very rigid, where technique is very much needed.
"There's a part where all the Color Guard members put down their flags, and they play their instruments, and it's just challenged ev - eryone to get better, and this show is worth putting euort into to make it something good," she said. Fellow senior Landon Gray, who plays trumpet and is on the leadership team, agreed, saying it's been dicult to memorize. But being harder is a good thing. "It means if it's a whole lot harder than last year's, it will be a whole lot better than last year's, if we get it 100 percent," he said. "For me… looking at the poten - tial of what this show could bring, what else could this man bring? (What could) Mr. Fisher bring to the table in later years with the drill writer and the music writer?" Choosing "World of War - craft" was an easy decision for Prague Director Trevor Harrold, who is also in his second year at Prague. He said he found a really cool arrangement by Mike Story with samples from all across the video game. "We've got a lot of eS - ports fans in our group, so I figured that would be pretty relevant, and I was right. They latched onto it pretty quick, and it's right about our level," he said. "I was really happy to find that music, and we've got Scott Mosby writing our drill, and he's a good small school drill writer." Numbers are slightly down. Harrold said he started last year at around This year, he's starting with 28 after some students transferred to other schools. He added that it's been an overall trend and that it's not going to change overnight.
"We're still in building, the uphill battle. So yeah, it's a good fight to fight. We've got a lot of good kids here. And even though we're smaller than last year, I think we're going to be stronger than last year," he said. The focus for this year is to have the students do things in unison, and he feels this year will have a greater overall presenta - tion. The band has spent a lot of time at camp refining the basics. They've redone their pep songs and "prac - ticed the snot" out of them, he said. He's also spent more time working on this year's program versus last year, when he tried to put something together in a quicker time frame.
"This year I've had a lot of time to think through the show and make sure it's more cohesive. So I hope the show is a lot more pleasing and a little more theatrical than last year," he said. The marching band is also adding one more com - petition to their roster this year, with Harrold saying it's one more chance for them to show ou their hard work. Senior Ryker Meshew, who is on the drumline, said he thinks everyone is more locked in this year and that he's looking forward to how the season progresses as well as getting out on the field to play.
"I think I'm most look - ing forward to just going out there and playing with everybody, all my friends," he said.