A Brand New Rhythm
The 2016 marching band season started out in a whole new way. New band instructor, Ms. Karina Snider, took control of the band and spent most of her summer preparing. Rehearsals started on August 1st. Color guard had two hour practices each week day. The band continued having sectionals for a few weeks. After those weeks, night rehearsals were held. The entire band started learning their first pictures are the first song. They had about a week off until school started.
When school started 1st hour marching band started at 7:30 every morning. Things may have been tough to get used to new ways, but everyone adjusted. First competition was October 1st, in Urbandale. The band placed well, but almost everyone admitted to having “first performance jitters”. After placing eighth, Ms. Snider had a better idea of what we really needed to focus on for the next performance at Valleyfest. The band worked hard the next week because they knew the competition would be much more difficult at Valley. They performed twice on October 8, placing eighth. The judge's comments during our performances gave everyone even more specific things to work on. During the next week the band had to work harder than they had ever worked because state was the next weekend. The band performed at Waukee high school for State Competition. They received a Superior I rating. Everyone was so happy because getting a I at state was the ultimate goal.
