There are many different forms of entertainment during football games at high schools, such as the dance team and cheer leading, but one that doesn’t get a lot of love is the MARCHING BAND! Marching band is made up of a group of people who perform musically and visually. The performance is both for entertaining those in the stands and competing for titles. It’s also a way to feel like a part of a community and get to do something people enjoy. 

  The marching band includes musical instruments (the band), a drum major, the color guard, and the pit. The band includes instruments from the brass, woodwind, and percussion musical families. The band’s performers, known as the color guard, enhance the visual aspect of the performance. Lastly, in the band there is the drum major who plays a huge role in the band. In the Millbrook band our drum major is junior Elizabeth Gale who shares about her role: “I like conducting the band and seeing all the formations being put together but having a drum major is important for keeping tempo and making sure everything is in order.” Putting all of these elements together creates an amazing marching band show for audiences to watch. 

  The show starts with the instructors and staff planning out details of the band’s performances months in advance to put the show together. During the month of May, the staff have several meetings, putting hundreds of hours towards the planning of the show. In these meetings the staff creates the theme of the show, writes the music, and decides the visuals going into the performance creating a well-rounded, entertaining production. Mr. Payne, Millbrook’s band director, commented on this saying: “I think about the strengths the students have to decide what music we should do. The music should also be artistic and be entertaining for people to hear.” Each year the performance is different so that it best suits the current members in the band.

  This season, the theme was “Land of Make Believe,” where the performance shows the band in a land of imagination, telling a compelling story to the audience. The guard starts out with a book, passing it down the field to one of the drum majors, who shows the book and is like a storyteller in the show. A lot of hard work is put into the show to make it the best thing it can be. Senior Kathryn Bonsted says, “My favorite part of the show are the visuals we do in the show and I really like the music we get to play.” Throughout the performance it consists of crazy visuals, jazzy music and embraces the story of the theme. 

  After all the hard work the band puts in for the show and it is fully complete, the band gets to go and compete against other bands. Bands are put into different classes based on their size. They can earn awards for general effect which is the overall product of the show, visual aspects, music, marching, percussion, and guard. There are also overall scores that go throughout all the different classes of band. This season the marching band won a lot of first place awards and were even grand champions for three competitions. “It was a moment I will never forget,” says senior Hannah Byers. “We worked really hard and I’m glad to see it all paid off.” 

Marching band Comp Achievements 

Rolesville : grand champs, 1st in class, 1st place marching, general effect, and music 2nd place guard, percussion, and visuals

Union Pines: 1st in class,  3rd overall in competition, 1st place music, 2nd General effect, visual ensemble,  and marching  

Cary: Grand champ class 1-3a, 1st in class, 1st music, visual, and general effect 2nd, guard and percussion 

Midway: grand champ, 1st in class, 1st music, general effect, guard,  2nd visual and 3rd percussion