Kristen Lanier

The marching band performing at the varsity football halftime show on Sept. 14. The Marching Band earned first place in their division as well as the Outstanding Music and Outstanding Visual caption awards on their final competition of the season at the Greater St. Louis Marching Band Festival, Saturday, Nov. 2 at Lindenwood University in St. Charles. “What makes us great is a long season of dedication, a great talent pool and an amazing group to work with, plus excellent design with instructors,” junior Emily Young said.

Coming off of a victory winning first place in their division on Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Francis Howell Central Coliseum Classic, the marching band earned first place in their division as well as the Outstanding Music and Outstanding Visual caption awards on their final competition of the season at the Greater St. Louis Marching Band Festival, Saturday, Nov. 2 at Lindenwood University in St. Charles.

“Francis Howell was great because it was our first really normal competition that we got to do, and one of the few that we got to see other bands perform. The funny thing about that win was that the wind was totally against us: all our props were trying to kill us and my solo was more wind than music. But still we did really well,” junior Emily Young said.

In competitions, divisions are organized by band size or school size. The 35-member band competed in six competitions.

“Mizzou was probably the most memorable, just because the whole day was amazing. Mizzou was by school size, so we were up against some really tough completions and came in third in our division. We unbelievably got to go finals, and then made fifth over 10 final bands and 25 bands total. It was amazing,” Young said.

The band practices daily from 2:45 to 5:30p.m.. In the summer, they have 10 eight hour days of band camp. Besides attending the Friday night football games, their competitions are 12-14 hour days on Saturdays as well as a blocked class during the day. They began towards the end of July and finished the first weekend of November. They practiced on a field behind the gyms, which resembled the football field, which was vital for them to practice the show. In addition, they also have practice one night a week on the turf.

“We prepared for our last completion much like we’ve practice all year: meticulously, taking care of every detail, getting infinitely better. But there was still a very obvious air of finality about it: there would be no next week to deal with things later,” Young said.

The marching band pride’s itself on the mission of having skilled musicians, marchers and effective leadership.

“I think the whole band has excellent leadership in our seniors this year, and a good group of freshmen that have been willing to learn. Our mission is unbelievably true this year, though it really is every year. We practice hard and are purpose driven. And when we strive to reach our highest potential, we will never be defeated. That’s been especially true this year,” Young said.

The band spends an average of 300 hours together a season.

“We are extremely close, both emotionally and very often physically,” Young said.