The Sailors' Log

Marching band becoming non-competitive next year

Thursday, March 29, 2007 By Kelsea Lilliefors

With the Marching Band removing the competitive side of its season, director Jason Boyden knows one thing for sure – the audience will not be able to tell a big difference. “The shows will still look and feel the same,” Mr. Boyden said. “They will be more accessible, entertaining to the average fan, and even those who are seeing a marching show for the first time will say, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of fun.’” Mr. Boyden’s proposal was passed by the board of education early this month. The Marching Band, which has won X state titles since 19XX and captured the national title last fall, will no longer be competitive and will begin its noncompetitive season next year. Most of the students were supportive of the decision. “Even though it is my senior year next year,” junior Peter Fischer said, “it would have been nice to have my last year be competitive, but this change is necessary due to funding and where our band is headed.” Despite the change, Mr. Boyden said there will still be plenty of fun opportunities for current and future students in Marching Band. “We were invited to be the feature band at Eastern Michigan University,” Mr. Boyden said. “We will be one of 25 bands playing in front of a college audience, and we will perform our show during halftime of the football game.” The events for next fall that will stay the same are pre-camp, band camp, the March-a-thon, and the Lake Michigan Open. The band will also have two or three Saturday performances with other bands in the same program. “One thing I like about the change is that there would be fewer rehearsals,” sophomore Sydney Bauer said. “Sometimes, too many rehearsals can be overwhelming, and it will feel good to have a break now and then.” The changes that were made to the program include doing two shows in a season, one being controled by the seniors, and the practice schedule will be cut significantly; however, Wednesday night rehearsals remain. Mr. Boyden said that there is too much emphasis on the changes. The only thing that students seem to be disappointed about was the fact that there will no longer be a competitive side to the activity. “Mainly the fact that it won’t be competitive is my reason for being disappointed,” Fischer said. “It is nice to actually compete against other bands with all the time and effort that is put into the season.” However, Mr. Boyden said the chenge was necessary to alleviate costs. Most of the money from last year went into props, production costs, equipment and design. Despite all of these things that are new and improved, Mr. Boyden hates to see his students unhappy. “It is the fact that students do not like this change that makes me unsatisfied,” Mr. Boyden said. “My only aim is to do what’s best for the students in the band.” Despite the competitive side being eliminated, students show high hopes for next year’s season. “I hope that more people will join,” Bauer said. “It won’t cost as much, and it won’t interfere with sports they’re in. People will pay attention to our show(s) more because Mr. Boyden said we’d have shows that’d be crowd pleasing and not so boring. Also, I will have the feeling that I did something right by trying something new.”