SM Marching Festival

Rose Pollina, Copy Editor|October 9, 2013

South’s Rompin’ Stompin’ Raider Band, Pacesetter drill team, and Southette Color Guard presented their field show at the Shawnee Mission Marching Festival on Oct. 1 along with the other high schools in the district.

East started off the festival with the national anthem and quickly transitioned to their other numbers which were all from the James Bond movies. Their highlight was “Skyfall.” After East finished West took the field and performed music from Les Miserables. North was next and like East they used songs from the James Bond movies.

Then South entered the field. The title of this year’s show was “Angels and Demons.” Their first number was classical composer Howard Hanson’s “Chorale and Alleluia.” The work was originally written for symphonic band but was presented in a special, energized arrangement for the marching band. The second number, “Battlefield,” is from the Cirque du Soleil show, “Ka.”

The battle could be heard in both the music, choreography and dance-like moves by the band during the drum feature. It became more relaxed as they performed a selection from a different Cirque du Soleil show called, “Journey of Man.” The song was “Flying” and features the band’s woodwind section. Their show concludes with the menacing and Complex, “Nightwatch.” After that Northwest finished out the night.

“I was really happy with it,” band director Steve Adams said. “We had a seminar rehearsal this morning that made a world of difference. I thought the kids played with a lot of energy and they were selling the show and the accuracy level was very high. I’m very proud of them.”

Their hard work paid off and made the Marching Festival very enjoyable. It demonstrated the students’ ability to work together.

“There is so much individualism that they enjoy and take pride in those 12 minutes that we come together and work as one,” Adams said. “I love that we have so many different types of students, but what brings them all together is the music. I think that’s one of the best things about having music in schools.”