The Jamestown High School Red Raider Marching Band practices at Strider Field. Submitted photo

By Ellen Cross

editorial@post-journal.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is first in a series by members of the Jamestown High School Red Raider Marching Band. So much work is done behind the scenes — planning, preparing, and practicing — that most people only see the finished project — the performance. JHS competes in New York State Field Band Conference shows leading up to the state championships in The Carrier Dome at Syracuse University Oct. 28.

For most school fall sports, the seasons start mid-summer, enough time for returning athletes to take time off, and for graduated eighth graders to start feeling like freshmen. For The Jamestown High marching band, though, the season starts before the end the previous school year. Starting at the end of June, spanning to the end of October, marching band is a hard-working, time-consuming organization that expands the students’ abilities to mentally withstand long amounts of time thinking and be physically active for hours at a time.

Each practice begins early, which is considered on-time. With stretches and muscle strengthening activities, the practice starts out quiet to help focus and center the group. Up next in the routine is the newly-implemented breathing gym. It is important to not only grow stronger in upper body and leg strength but also in lung capacity, so as to prepare players to withstand the end-goal of eight minutes straight of intense marching and playing an instrument.

After we are done warming up, the band, pit, drumline, and color guard either break up into separate sectionals or come together for full-band practice, depending on the weather. If the weather is nice, ranging from hot and sunny, to cold with light rain or snow, the band will most likely be practicing on the field with drill. As the season progresses and the band moves from the back field at JHS to Strider Field at Jefferson Middle School, drill practice is combined with memorized music and the show starts to really come together.

During these practices, repetition is key, as members have to memorize exactly where over sixty drill sets are, each set comprising of two numbers, one stating how many steps front to back and one stating how many steps side to side. On the other hand, if the weather is not cooperating, the band will most likely be inside working on visuals or music rehearsal. These practices are crucial as well since looking good out on the field is only half the battle; sounding good is just as important.

Usually practice is broken up into hour-long chunks where the different elements of marching band are focused on individually.

These segments add variety to the schedule in order to keep the band on-track and to keep rehearsals from being monotonous.

Once the show is completely learned, with drill put together with music, every practice ends with at least one complete run through of the show, simulating an actual competition. Afterwards, the band is called together and the drum majors lead the entire band in the Sweep, an energetic call-and-response that shows our unity and pride we have as members of the JHS Red Raider Marching Band.