Marching band: how they do it

Madeleine DeGrace, Y's Tales Editor in Chief|September 13, 2017

With two performances under their belts, the time and effort the marching band put into perfecting their drills is definitely showing. Spending everyday out on the field for an hour to an hour and a half, going over set by set where they move, helps them look as good as they do during the halftime show. 

The marching band walks over to the field everyday during fourth period to practice playing and marching their songs. On Tuesdays and Fridays, they are out there until the halfway through fifth period, running the tunes.
Ready to march onto the field, the band stands on the sidelines, anxiously waiting to get started. Contrary to the normal game day routine, the band starts rehearsal with the halftime show and ends with pregame.
The drum majors– Jimmy Chaudoin (far left), Olivia Braun (mid left), Maya Moran (mid right), and Andrew Hilgendorf (far right)– all signal the beginning of rehearsal by marching over to call “parade rest”– the band’s equivalent of “stay focused.”
Mr. Pavlik and Mr. Riddle (far right) watch every rehearsal from the press box to get the best view. They are able to make critiques for the band to help them prep for the upcoming game. They usually help the pit set up all the instruments to speed up the process of getting ready to rehearse.
A common critique of Mr. Pavlik and Mr. Riddle is for the members to keep their “horns up.” It means for instruments like mellophones, trumpets, or trombones to keep the bell of their instrument up facing the stands, so the most amount of noise can be heard.
To ensure that the band is hitting the correct spots every set, Mr. Riddle frequently tells the band to go back to the last set and run it “one more time.” Rarely is it ever actually one more time, and they end up running it multiple times over.
The band runs through the whole show once, usually repeating the drills for the main halftime show to get them clean and in their muscle memory. Here is the color guard hitting their end pose for “Still Breathing.”
After running the halftime show a few times, the band then moves forward into their concert block to practice the Poms feature (or any other featured songs they are playing that game). For the concert block, all of their lines must be straight and their sound must be loud and proud in order to move on.
At the next football game, the band keeps all of the notes Mr. Riddle and Mr. Pavlik made throughout the week during rehearsal in mind to bring the best halftime show they can. Catch the marching band at the Homecoming football game for their Green Day inspired halftime show and flags feature!