Banding Together for Competition
October 5, 2016
Although the season is marching to an end and halftime performances will soon be over, the SHS Marching Cardinals are busier and more active now than ever, as they prepare and perform in competitions all over the state.
For most of the members of the marching band, such as senior Trinity Cline-Smith, the preparation time before performances, consisting of makeup, hair, dress and rehearsal and the long competition days are some of the most time consuming and effort demanding activities they have to do. They are pushed to work harder and practice more during this time with the help of what some students call “Competition Copeland,” referring to band director David Copeland.
“He gets down to everything, every little detail. So, we have extra hard practices right before competition,” Cline-Smith said. “Sometimes he’ll keep us a little later right before competition and he often yells at us a lot more when it comes to competitions.”
“Competition Copeland” has also contributed to defeating what color guard and marching band believe is the biggest misconception about them: that what they do is easy. Every Tuesday, the marching band gathers in the band room to practice their music without having to do the marching steps with it. With less to focus on, they are able to learn the songs a little quicker. This permits them to learn their performance in sections. With all of the hard work and dedication, they are able to learn the music, learn the steps and put them together.
As competitions approach, unity is formed between color guard and marching band, who perform alongside one another. Color guard also has to put a lot of practice and effort into their performance as they compete with the marching band. They have many tasks to complete such as sorting out costumes, doing hair and applying makeup, which they only have a short amount of time to do so.
“Everyone thinks it’s easy, and it’s really not,” said senior color guard member Christina Sorrell.
At the end of the day, each member puts in energy in order to help put together their performance.
“It all comes down to everybody,” Cline-Smith said. “It’s not just one person out there performing. It’s everybody.”