By: Jessica Nichols
Standing in formation on the football field, the Marching Northmen prepares to perform their 2010 show. Drum majors seniors Derek Byrne and Melanie Holmgren salute the press box and the show begins. The band instruments begin to play in unison. The color guard twirls the colorful flags and the formations begin to change.
“The season goes by fast,” Holmgren said. “If you put your heart into it from the very beginning, you’ll be satisfied with the final product.”
The marching band competed at Missouri Western University on Tuesday, Oct. 12, placing sixth. Then, they turned around to compete at Trenton on Saturday, Oct. 16, where they placed thirteenth out of twenty-one.
“Even though we didn’t come home with any trophies, I’m really proud of the performances we gave,” Holmgren said. “Just between MoWest and Trenton, there was a huge improvement. We don’t need any trophies to tell us how much work we’ve put into this.”
Then band had three soloists this year. Senior Richard Borsella played the trumpet while junior Leah Frisby played the alto saxophone and junior Rachael Eberhart played the clarinet.
“I felt a lot of pressure as a soloist because there are judges who are taking points and the points get taken away from the band as a whole, not just from the soloists,” Frisby said.
Nerves get to everyone though, not just the soloists.
“I think everyone gets a little nervous because we’re performing for a different crowd on a different field so the unfamiliarity is always a difficult transition,” Byrne said.
The Marching Northmen receive scores in a variety of categories. Different judges watch different aspects of the show in order to decide their scores.
“One judge scores our forms and spacing, where we stand on the field in relation to one another,” Holmgren said. “Another scores our marching technique. Another scores the music we play. There are even separate judges for drum line, color guard and drum majors.”
The band saw a huge amount of improvement between the Missouri Western and Trenton competition, which made the low scores worthwhile.
