The marching band season is coming up this next school year and everyone is encouraged to join. Here is some information on what Marching Band entails.

Marching band is a mix of performing arts and sports; it’s the sport of the arts as some call it. Members in the marching band take concert music that they practice two and a half hours a day everyday of the week or more. Then learn choreography and a specific marching technique that is taught to them. After all that they then put it together to make it visually and musically appealing for everyone who comes to the football games and other events to enjoy from August to the end of November.  

There are three sections in the marching band, the winds, the drum line, and color guard. Since there are only these three sections this means people with have to either learn a new instrument they aren’t familiar with or learn how to play an instrument without any prior knowledge but that isn’t a problem Graf provides support on learning a new instrument it all just depends on how much work and effort you want to put into learning that instrument. 

At the end of the day this seems like a lot of work but as Noah Graf, marching band director put it,“It is 50% work and 50% social activities.” 

One example of Graf balancing out work and fun is every so often they will go to the apex and have a little gathering that the booster [marching band] parents will help put together. At the end of the marching band season they will go to boondocks to hang and have a good time, as a celebration for their hard work.

As for cost, there is a flat fee of $300 per student with some added fees. This covers the staff stipends, some of their competition registration fees, and other things like food and transportation as well as equipment and rentals. There are new uniforms which is a big expense but the booster parents are the ones who pay for those uniforms, so the students don’t have to. 

On the topic of uniforms, the marching band has a new one this year and the design process was long but they settled on black pants, a purple and black jacket that has some pink in it to help lift them up off of the field, making them stand out more. There are some elements of traditional marching band uniforms like a row of buttons on the left side, there is a hip cape along the right leg that’s designed to lengthen the form of the body, again to make them seem taller and stand out as well as hiding some footing mistakes. On the hat, which is called a shako it has a tall white plume and from the shako all the way down to the bottom of the jacket there are three silver stripes to represent wildcat scratches. 

“I wanted a uniform that is cool and contemporary, a more modern design. I wanted a uniform with our school colors on it, something that’s going to make us pop off the field. I also wanted to incorporate a little bit of the A-West traditions into it. Which the uniform we settled on definitely meets,” Graf explains. 

Marching Band is a community where you get to laugh, make friends, and learn new instruments all while being able to show your school spirit for your fellow classmates. This sport of the arts is something that everyone can do and is encouraged to do from August to the end of November, 2 hours a day or more. To sign up for the Marching Band talk to Graf who is in the East Wing room 109.