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Banding Together

Slippery Rock High School student Alyssa Voland, front, helps lead marching band practice Tuesday. She and Kevin Rall are drum majors who will lead the band's performance each week.
Students work hard for shows

Tonight athletes around Butler County will run onto the football field for the first time this year, but they won't be the only student performers lighting up stadiums. Much goes into kicking off high school football season the right way — including behind-the-scenes work put in by instrumentalists and other performers who entertain fans when athletes are off the field.

At Slippery Rock School District, which hosts Reynolds High School tonight for both schools' inaugural game of the 2016-17 football season, it's also a first for the district's 92-member marching band.

The group is a corps-style band that incorporates certain elements common to show bands — a combination that's often apparent in the band's color guard. Performers there span everything from a baton and flag line to silks and dance groups.

“We expect our color guard to do everything,” said Les Fine, who has been the school's band director for the last 12 years.

Fine's career as a band director spans 23 years. He said few people understand the rigors that go hand-in-hand with fielding a successful marching band each season. Apart from an intense two-week band camp where instrumentalists and performers spend up to seven hours a day learning and memorizing the season's new halftime show, there are pages upon pages of music to memorize as well.

Each year the band must master a pregame show — taken up for the most part by standard tunes like the school's alma mater, fight song and the national anthem — and their halftime show, as well as a variety of songs that are played during time-outs and other breaks in the on-field action. Instrumentalists have been practicing for several months to learn all the music they'll be required to perform for high school sports fans each week.

Some of that music doesn't need to be memorized, but every note of the band's halftime show — as well as about 40 pages of drill instructions laying out the group's choreographed movements — does, Fine said.

Students are challenged by the demands of the band's practice schedule, he said, as well as the performance standards.

“The amount of hours and multitasking that it takes — there's no other activity that's anything like it,” Fine said.

Even if you're not picking up an instrument every Friday night, marching band can be a full-time job — especially if you're a drum major like Alyssa Voland and Kevin Rall.

Voland, 17, and Rall, 16, are the students who lead the band's performance each week. They memorize each routine and keep the beat during musical numbers, acting as the band's on-field directors.

Voland, a saxophone player and senior this year, said the band's first performance of the year is just as thrilling for them as a season's opening game is for members of a sports team. There's anxiety because the routine is new and different, and there is determination to get the season off on the right foot.

“The first game is probably the one I don't ever remember, because I'm so intense and so focused,” she said.

Rall is a trumpet player who this year gave up his instrument to become the band's drum major. He said he decided to go through the competitive audition process and spend part of his summer at a camp learning how to do the job of drum major.

“I guess I always idolized the drum majors,” he said. “It's pretty exciting knowing that more people than just us can see (our performance), but it's stressful as well.”

Voland agreed. Drum majors are judged not just by their own on-the-field showing, but by the entire band's.

“When they do well, I feel great about it,” she said. “When they do poorly, I feel poorly about it too.”

At Mars High School, the marching band has been preparing for the football season for three weeks.

Mark Rodgers, who is in his third year as marching band director, said that being in the band requires about 20 hours per week of practicing and performing during the fall sports season.

“It's equal to any sport as far as the time commitment,” Rodgers said.

The band has 85 marching members, in grades seven through 12, and plays at halftime and during the action at every football game.

They also will take their field show to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association competition at Moon High School in October.Each year the field show is all new.The 8½-minute performance features songs by Radiohead and Muse, as well as the theme from the movie “Pan's Labyrinth.”Band members practice in the parking lot outside of the school's auditorium.Though the blacktop can make it hot for the students on sunny days, the building has a unique feature that was included solely for use by the marching band. There is an outcrop on the roof of the building, sometimes called the eagle's nest, that offers the band director an overhead view of the band as it rehearses.“That shows how dedicated they are here,” Rodgers said.Earlier this week, several seniors said they felt ready for the season as they wrapped up one of the final days of summer rehearsals.Zach Kowalewski, the saxophone section leader, said that rehearsing in the heat can be grueling, but it is worth it.“I love how it pushes you. You have breaks and we drink a lot of water, but you are being pushed and pushed to your limits,” he said.Katie Olsen is in her second year as the head drum major, the student who conducts the band.She said her positive experiences in the band have inspired her to pursue a degree in music education in hopes of one day becoming a marching band director.“I want to change somebody else's life the way my band directors have changed my life,” she said.Friday Night LightsHigh school football games being played tonight include Hampton at Mars, CW North Catholic at Highlands, Armstrong at Karns City, Reynolds at Slippery Rock and General McLane at Grove City. A full slate of games is scheduled for next week.

Marching band members play during practice at Mars High School on Tuesday. The band has been preparing for the football season for three weeks.

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