Strike up the Bands
As the sun goes down Friday night, the lights will go on at high school football fields across Butler County. Teens are about to learn if all that hard work and sweat under a July sun in daylong practices are about to pay off.
Memorizing new formations and learning new terminology is about to face its first test in reality. Uniforms are adjusted, equipment is checked one last time.
The countdown reaches zero, and high school marching bands take the field to kick off the fall football campaign.
Earlier this week, Amanda Pivirotto, the band director, led the Karns City High School marching band and Gremlinettes dance line and flag team through a two-hour practice on the high school football field.
Sitting in the press box overlooking the field, Pivirotto said, “We lost a lot of seniors from last year, a large group of seniors.”
But she feels this year's band will be able to carry on the tradition.A two-week band camp running from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. July 29 to Aug. 9, followed by two, two-hour practices a week should have the band in marching and musical form.Jake Orozco, alto saxophone and assistant drum major, called camp “painful but good experience learning sets and getting to know all the new people.”Emily Ehart, tenor drums and assistant drum major, agreed.“We started really rough and pulled it together really well,” she said.Pivirotto said of band camp, “We did a lot of basics, marching skills. We did a two-day music camp in June where they learned the songs for the show.
“We do a simple pregame. We make a tunnel for the football team to run through and play the fight song, 'On Wisconsin,'” she said.“Halftime lasts 7 and a half minutes,” said Pivirotto. “We have three new songs, 'Take On Me,' 'Thriller,' and 'Come Sail Away.'”Shaylah Klein, baritone brass, feels confident about the band's upcoming debut for the 2019 football season.“We're doing good, putting a lot of hard work. Everybody is trying,” she said.Pivirotto said the band's skills were remarkable because, as a smaller school, Karns City students are pulled in many different directions.For example, drum major Donovan Hindman was absent because he was graduating from Army Reserve training. Soccer practice cut band practice short for one member and Jada Polczynski, bass drum, would be heading to softball practice as soon as band practice ended.
Pivirotto feels her squad is ready.She said. “The kids are really good. They are very well-behaved, and they work really hard.Even the two-hour bus trip to Brockway in Jefferson County doesn't daunt them.“We've done the hard work and I think we are all proud of it,” said Jada.William Weltman, band director of the Moniteau Warrior Marching Band, is glad his squad is making its first appearance in front of a home crowd as Moniteau High School hosts Kane.“Home or away it doesn't really matter, but it's nice not to travel the first day,” said Weltman.The day before, the 45-member band and the 25-member dance/drill team put in a two and a half-hour practice.
Thursday practices followed two weeks of band camp that ran from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. beginning July 29.Weltman said the band camp was the time to practice new pregame and halftime positions and add new music to the band's repertoire.He said, “We'll be reviewing the halftime show and making sure it was ready as it can be for the first game.”Weltman said, “We have a Queen halftime show this year. A lot of their music is pretty good, it just depends on how it is arranged.”The hours of practicing under a hot sun was worth it, decided Weltman.“I was very impressed with how it's going. The growth that I saw was impressive.”
Les Fine, band director at Slippery Rock High School, has the luxury of 31 returning seniors taking the field Friday night for the home opener against General McLane High School, almost a third of the 95-member band and color guard.“This is the largest senior class that I've had,” said Fine.Which meant, according to band members, that the camp the Slippery Rock band had from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 29 to Aug. 8 was less about learning the basics of music and movement and more about fine-tuning.Mason Borland, the senior drum major said, “I think we accomplished more than ever before. We had four new songs that we accomplished before the end of band camp.”Gregory Pitts, the senior drum line captain, said, “We had a rough start but we got back on track. Most of the line are rookies. Four out of five members graduated. But we made a lot of progress and I'm proud of them.”
Rachel Green, the senior wind captain and flutist, agreed with Pitts' assessment.“This has been the best band camp. We had all the songs on the field,” said Green.Rachel and Gregory said practice is what makes playing and marching look easy. In reality it isn't.Gregory, who carries and plays the five-drum tenor set, said, “I love the tenors. They're my favorite by far. But it's pretty difficult, there's a lot of moving hands.”And there's the weight to consider. The tenor drum kit weighs 55 pounds.“Playing and marching doesn't bother me, but you can wear out your lower back easily,” he said.Rachel, who played in concert band before joining the marching band, said it takes a different mind set.“It's a lot of multiple things at once, where you are going, what your feet are doing,” said Rachel.
Senior Caillie Kracht, mellophone player and section leader, and senior Kendra Shidemantle, dance line member of the Rock'n-ettes, will perform an instrument and dance solo whenever the band plays Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah.”Kendra said they created the solo over two days in band camp.“I catch on superfast,” she said. “Coach (color guard instructor Mackenzie McLaughlin) and I worked it out together. It lasts about two minutes, a contemporary lyrical dance.”
