The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

Band Behind the Scenes

“VHS HOO-RAH!” chant the fans at the football games when the drumline plays the cadence. The VHS fans get a kick out of the fun drum beat, but do they even know what a cadence is? Let alone, what the band does with the cadence?

This is just one example of the hard work and dedication that goes into the show that the band puts on at half time of the football games. The VHS Marching Maroon and White loves entertaining the fans, but that is not the main performance that the band puts on. Many people do not know about the pride, passion, and intensity that the band expresses all year long.

Most fall sports start in August. For the band, the season starts in May. Before the previous school year is over, the band has at least three practices. Wednesday nights are band nights throughout the whole summer.

“Summer practices are a way to teach and refresh everyone on marching and memorizing music and work,” says Melanie McClellan, flute section co-leader, “They also make everyone prepared for band camp.”

The last week of August is band camp. The band has three practice sessions, a lunch break, and a dinner break for five days from 9AM-9PM. Most people chuckle when they think of band camp, and maybe think of the quote “This one time at band camp…” and we are able to finish this sentence. This is where the band learns where each person goes on the field for the whole show, the music, the Color Guard routine, and putting the show together. At the end of this week, there is a run through of everything that was done through band camp.

“I feel relieved at the end of the run through because band camp is over, but excited because it is a preview of how we are going to do for the rest of the season,” says Rachel Blinder, Color Guard co-captain.

Once September comes around, football season begins. The band enjoys the games, but they are more like practices for the first competition, which is usually the home competition. This is not only the band’s biggest fundraiser, but for most people it is their favorite competition. This is where everyone waits for the Verona band to come on and they always blow everyone away.

“This is our opportunity for us to play for our town that has helped the band so much,” says Matt Wolfman, senior delegate.

The band has about six competitions throughout the whole season. The last two competitions for the 2011 band season were the State Competition in Union, New Jersey and Nationals in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The band was very excited because they have never been to Nationals before and they were able to show how dedicated they have been all season.

“The goals for nationals are to come off the field feeling like we’ve achieved something great and that we put everything we had in it. And, of course, we want to win!” says Amanda Salierno, flute section co-leader.

This was achieved at Nationals and the State Competition this year. At both competitions, the band came in 2nd place and received the Cadets Award of Excellence. This award was given to the bands that best represented the traditions and values of the Cadets, which includes excellence in music, visual design, and overall effect with a military bearing. Because the Cadets are the best professional marching band in the world, this was a huge honor and accomplishment for the band to receive this award from them.

The reputation that the band has is that they are extremely dedicated and they all love the organization, but many people wonder what it is that makes the program so lovable.

“I love band,” says Isaac Rubins, assistant drum major, “because everyone gets the sense of being a huge family and feeling good at the end of the day because of how hard we push ourselves.”

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