White rapids, purple hearts, red machines.The SHS Marching Cardinals plan to use these three lights along with songs to show you something that only music can.

“The show title is ‘Refraction.’  The bending of light. It has to do with light and colors and how that associates with sound and mood,” senior conductor Amy Norris said. “Each piece has a color associated with it, and each movement sounds like the color. White’s more upbeat, purple is kinda low and mellow, and red is intense.”

Band director, David Copeland, has been toying with the idea of lights for about two years since the marching band went to state finals at Lucas Oil Stadium and a group from Fort Wayne had left a sousaphone, with led lights on it. So, Copeland brought it back to the school.

“(The group from Fort Wayne) had to come pick it (The sousaphone) up and when I saw those lights I thought, ‘oh that would be kinda cool, we could do that,’” Copeland said.

According to Copeland, he wanted to make sure everything was thought through and perfect before they started performing it. He also had to choose the songs to go with each color. Marching Band has grown into such a large group this year that they are struggling to make sure every person will have a uniform. Knowing this, Copeland came up with an alternative uniform using lights that would go with each color of the songs.

“I think people (band members) were kinda confused by the theme, but they liked the music, and they like playing it,” Norris said. “They like the show they just don’t get the theme.”

The Marching Cardinals practice in school, whether that is during iPass orin the class. Their practicing schedule is as follows: sectional nights are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights are full rehearsal, which all lead up to Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, the first performance of the year for the marching band.

“Tuesdays are mainly music rehearsals and Thursdays are marching and music. We also have class every white and black day and iPass. We also tell people to practice at home,” the junior conductor Toby Brummett said.  “Lots of practice.”

According to Norris and Brummett, some people have a natural talent for marching and some people have a natural talent for playing. Mixing those two talents together can sometimes mess that up, but sometimes it will make it better all depending on the music and player. This year’s show is about a mediocre and average difficulty level, which is good so that the really good players can make it sound really nice and for the people who are just starting out, it’s easy enough to learn but still challenging enough to make them better.

“I’m excited because it’s my senior year and I think it’s a fun show,” Norris said.