Over at North Rock Creek High School, the marching band is roughly the same size as last year, but they have a larger color guard, according to co-director David Bellows. He also leads the program with his wife, Heather.
“Some of the woodwinds chose to do color guard, so the woodwinds are a little bit smaller, but overall, the band’s up about 10 more than last years,” he said.
Other new changes include the addition of OBA, the first year the band has competed in it. The show this year is called “Caged,” and features music by Peter Gabriel, Ariana Grande and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.
It will feature interesting visuals with platforms that include partial cages and even the band coming together at one point to create one large cage before breaking free.
Drum Major Kayla Rudek is eager to get the show on the field. “I think it’s going to be really cool. I’m really excited to see it, because it’s one thing marching the show on the field. It’s another thing to actually watch it,” she said. “And this show seems like it’s going to be really, really cool. So, I’m excited to get to see it from up there and get to see everything going on.”
This year is a bit challenging with the players they lost to graduation or just quitting. Rudek said their sections that need to be louder are smaller, while their quieter sections are bigger. It’s partially why they chose a woodwind-heavy program. But she’s optimistic regardless, and it comes down to encouraging all the new players.
“Encouraging the new freshman. A lot of our new brass players are freshmen. Just encouraging them that they are good enough to play out and be heard, and not be afraid, because we need them,” she said.
For sophomore Surabhi Sharma, this is her first year on color guard, and she’s mostly excited about performing with them.
“I’ve done marching before, like last year, and this is my first year in color guard, and I’m just so excited to put that choreo out there,” she said. “And be graceful and just show people what color guard is.”
Senior Caleb Bristow said he was excited about his euphonium solo, adding that he thinks this will be a really good year for the marching band. Though it’s not without its obstacles.
“Staying together and marching together is something that’s going to be kind of hard to show on the field, but I feel like that’s something everyone struggles with,” he said. “I think that we have quickly handled it pretty well.”
As for goals this year, he hopes the band can get another sweepstakes in competition, but he also hopes to be the best section leader that he can, should he get the position. He’s also looking forward to Friday Night Lights.
“Friday football games is, it’s fun because there’s so much energy on the field. Everybody’s all hyped up from the football game,” he said. “We can play songs from off the radio that we have converted into music for our instruments. That’s my favorite part of marching band.”