Band Blows Crowd Away With All That Jazz

They line up one by one. A rippling wave goes through the stomachs of all members. The hundreds of spectators seem to have silenced. They’re in this spot for one reason: the gratification of a successful half-time show.

At the football game against Aiken High School, the band debuted their Latin jazz marching show. This shows features songs by Chuck Mangione, Barry Manilow, and Santana. Though these artists aren’t on the typical high school student’s iPod, junior Eric Danko believes the selection of music is well chosen.

“The band was very well-practiced and played some great works,” Eric said, “They performed very well.”

The band spent two weeks before school started to begin memorizing their music. They worked for approximately six hours per day learning this new style.

“Musically, the show is a major style change from what I’ve done in previous years,” band director Monte Blackwell said. “This particular collection of songs is very well arranged and written for marching band.”

Though this style of music has never been performed by the band, band students, such as senior Caleb Morris, have taken a liking to the new style.

“This year’s show is one of the best we’ve ever done,” Caleb said.

At the football game against Aiken High, the band performed two of their four half-time show songs and seven stands tunes.

“The band’s performance at the first game was as I expected: a good first performance,” Mr. Blackwell said. “The field show and the stands music will constantly and consistently improve as the season progresses.”

One of the band’s major concerns, on the field and in the stands, is to induce team spirit. Sophomore Danielle Smith even thinks that the band has somewhat of an effect on the football players’ performance on the field.

“I think it’s like a chain reaction,” Danielle said. “The band pumps up the crowd, the crowd pumps up the team.”

Other students, such as junior Lauren Pearson, believe that the band doesn’t have an effect on the football team, however, they do a great job of cheering up the crowd.

“Whenever a tune caught my ear, I started dancing with my friends in the student section,” Lauren said.

Another reason the band is there is to, of course, entertain the crowd. According to freshman band student Kylie Taylor, that means the band is doing their job.

“The band is there to get the crowd excited enough to cheer for the team,” Kylie said. “We bring the party to the football games!”