You’ll hear music from famous movies, music written by a silent movie star and songs that will evoke folk tales.
And you will see more students shine, with some emphasis being put on individual students and small ensembles among the marching bands with more than 100 students.
The themes and music being practiced by area high school marching bands was selected by most band directors and assistants in the spring. Students have been working on mastering the music and the steps this summer.
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Over the course of several weekends in October and November, the bands will perform and be graded on such factors as musicality, dramatic performance and visual effects. The culmination for some bands will be marching at the Indiana State School Music Association finals in November.
Here’s a look at what local high school marching bands are working toward this season:
Center Grove High School
Students at Center Grove High School will be marching in every direction.
Their show, “In Every Direction” is meant to represent all the directions people can go, band director Kevin Schuessler said.
Center Grove’s show will focus on all the directions someone can go in, including up, down, backwards, side and forwards.
“In Every Direction,” starts a bit unconventionally with vocalists who kick off the show, he said.
Having vocalists open a marching band show is not extremely rare, but is a new direction for Center Grove, Schuessler said.
“They are setting up a cadence with their voices that is creating direction and pulse at the same time,” he said.
The show will look similar to past shows that Center Grove and its 145-member band has pulled off, Schuessler said.
Franklin Community High School
The Blue Regiment marching band of Franklin Community High School is marching up a class.
Its marching band is moving from participating in mostly festival competitions to scholastic competitions in Class C.
The marching band added about 30 more members this year, making the move necessary, band director Tim Kosch said.
“With the growth of the program, it was time to move on,” he said.
Audience members watching their show may get a little Deja vu.
Literally.
The show is named “Deja vu” and is built to evoke more of a classic concert feel, with more emphasis on the music itself and less about the overall production quality of the show.
The trend in marching band for years has been to put on a show that was similar to a theater production. Now, that is scaling back, Kosch said.
“You want to do that for awhile and sometimes you want to do something fresh and new,” he said.
Greenwood Community High School
A famous silent movie film actor is getting his due at Greenwood Community High School.
The 170 marching band members are performing “Charlie,” based off the silent movie film actor and composer, Charlie Chaplin.
Chaplin was a composer and band members will be performing some of his music for the show, band director John Morse said.
And the marchers will do some of the visual things he did in movies, he said.
“I think it will be very cool.”
Each marcher will have a character and movement-based roles to bring to life, Morse said.
“We try not to do the same thing year after year and to push boundaries,” he said.
Indian Creek High School
Indian Creek High School’s marching band wants to take you back to the Gold Rush.
The Marching Braves will be doing a Gold Rush theme to a medley of folk songs.
Amy Heavilin, band director, was listening to the music and could see the scenes. She thought the songs would be appropriate to build a marching band theme around, she said.
“The more I listened to it, it was neat and created a picture in your head,” Heavilin said.
The 60 students who march with Indian Creek, including high school and middle school students, will be competing in the Indiana State School Music Association Class C this fall.
The goal is to make the students better leaders and musicians, she said.
Roncalli High School
Roncalli High School’s marching band show will take you to the movies.
“And the Winner Is” focuses on music from movies that have been critically acclaimed, Kathy Peach, band director said.
Marching band members will play the main theme from “Dark Knight,” “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You,” from ‘The Jersey Boys” and a medley of songs from Pixar movies, including “Cars,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monster’s Inc.,” “Ratatouille,” “Up” and “A Bug’s Life.”
Peach listens to music throughout the school year and typically focuses on music that the fans will enjoy hearing, she said.
Roncalli’s marching band seldom competes and is an extracurricular activity, Peach said.
The 34 marchers and their directors want to entertain fans.
“I approach stuff for us like a college band, we want to entertain our fans.”
Whiteland Community High School
The county’s largest marching band wants to evoke William Shakespeare with their show.
Whiteland Community High School’s Marching Warriors has 175 marchers, which makes it the largest marching band in the county.
The show, called “…And we are merely players,” is based off of the famous Shakespeare quote that starts with “All of the world is a stage.”
Musicians will be playing on different stages and more soloists and ensembles will perform along with the full marching band, band director Pete Sampson said.
The number of talented students in marching band prompted Sampson and other directors to plan a show that would allow more students to shine individually, he said.
And that is where the trend is marching band is going, Sampson said.
“Marching band is kind of no longer all the students play at all times throughout the show,” he said.
