Nineteen days, 228 hours, 13,680 minutes, 820,800 seconds.
Summer band is a mix of constant focus, discipline and sweat as over 400 students came together before school to prepare for their 8-minute show.
Heartless wouldn’t you think? Not to the die hard marching band students. Seniors have asked aliens “Are You Out There?”, juniors have cackled like witches for “Stir the Pot”, sophomores have looked for their Roman empires in “When in Rome” and now freshmen are losing their hearts in “Heartless”.
Band camp is a long and tedious process that happens during the last two weeks of July. It mainly focuses on strengthening, bonding, and musical rehearsals to create amazing performances during a halftime show. It’s not just memorizing music and show choreography, it’s making every moment, every minute, every drill set perfect until they can’t get it wrong, to satisfy the judge’s standards.
“Whenever we perform you can see all of our hard work pay off and it makes every minute of practice worth it,” senior Bethany Nonhof said.
Practices in the Texas heat can make it unbearable to listen to directors while on the concrete, but the students kept coming back each day.
“Practicing and performing is extremely different”, junior Amanda Tucker said. “Practicing is brutal, but honestly, sometimes it can be really fun when you’re with your friends. Performing is a great experience, and it’s super rewarding at the end of the day.”
Practicing helped calm the nerves before big performances. Members became accustomed to memorizing music, drill sets, and choreography that gets the team brownie points on a judge’s score sheet.
“I get a little nervous but we get so much time to practice it. Overall I know it’ll pay off, even if I make a few mistakes,” freshman Arsya Momin said. “On the other hand, sometimes nerves get the best of us, making us forget things.”
Despite the nerves, everyone tries their best.
“I get nervous that I’ll forget my dot, ‘horns up’, or anything like that. But honestly, everyone’s trying their best, and everyone knows how hard it is,” Tucker said.
Band directors push the standards high every year, and this season’s routine is no exception.
“This year’s show, ‘Heartless’, is more challenging and better than last year’s, but the drill is more difficult than last year. Although the music sounds the same, it’s lots of notes together,” sophomore Mackenzie Barnes said.
The assistant band director is Jesus Burciaga. Burciaga didn’t initially want to become a band director; he aspired to become an engineer just like his dad. But, in his last month of senior year of high school, after he sent in his applications for college, he sat in his band class wondering if another path was ahead. That was the exact moment he realized he wanted to direct bands. The sounds of reeds breaking, instruments going in and out of tune, and sheet music shuffling were some things that he wanted to work the rest of his life.
“It was such an eye-opening experience for me, and I didn’t even know it,” Burciaga said.
Just like everyone else, he enjoys his few weeks of summer but is excited about the fun first days of band camp with returning members from the past year and the newcomers this year.
“It’s an interesting mix of personalities, so it’s fun. It can be a little stressful sometimes but I think with the team we have it’s a welcoming environment, and all of the band directors enjoy teaching, and we all enjoy being here doing this type of work, so it makes it fun. Many adults don’t like going to work but sometimes the friends and people you meet there can make it enjoyable. I like my work because it’s not something I dread going to. I just enjoy seeing everyone’s faces; it makes me happy,” Burciaga said.
Remembering the small moments with friends, or even just taking a quick selfie with them can last years to come but not for Nonhof.
“I think the small moments mean the most to me. There are so many aspects to the band that give me a sense of community, and I can see this just before our rehearsals or during our small breaks,” Nonhof said. Favorite moments mean different things to different people, especially how they view them.
Being rewarded as a teenager is a goal most teens wish to achieve one day soon, but junior Nick Hartmann thinks the way none of us would.
“Marching band has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever participated in. Participating in the marching band whether you’re an alternate, drum major, or even a prop person shows how rewarding being a part of a marching band can be,” Hartmann said. “Not only does it teach you to have good work ethic, it allows you to see the rewards of consistent effort,”
The band isn’t just the people you see making random lines on the football field and playing their instruments in the stands. They’re real people who’ve dedicated their lives to becoming great musicians, who’ve also dedicated years, months, hours, minutes, and seconds to bring smiles to the crowd.
“Band camp is some of the best memories from my years of high school. We are always so energetic and loud, especially when football season rolls around during those first games and we finally get to have some fun after we work so hard,” junior Savannah Harper said. “It is something that I look forward to every year.”
