The Marching Band season comes to a close
Marching Band season has ended, and with the end, came the band’s final performance. At the performance, they ran through all shows, including pregame, and handed out awards.
Aurora started the show by marching and playing pre-game. Pre-game included “Uprising” by Muse, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, and “Aurora Alma Mater”.
The first halftime show they played was the one they used to open the football season. The song selection included “Dance Again” by Jennifer Lopez, “Everybody’s Everything” by Santana, “Late in the Evening” by Paul Simon, and “Papi” by Jennifer Lopez. “Everybody’s Everything” featured the highlights with “guy-lights” from the band while “Papi” was the flag feature.
Senior clarinetist Julia Brezovec reflecting back said, “I am going to miss playing on Friday nights and being with my best friends.”
Show 2 was the one played at Thunder Over Aurora. They played “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire, “What is Hip?” by Tower of Power, “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas, “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind, and Fire, “Vehicle” by Ides of March, and “Late in the Evening” by Paul Simon. “What is Hip?” featured the flag line.
When asked about how she felt Senior flag line member Michelle Guan said, “ It felt surreal. I couldn't believe that time had passed so fast. It felt like just yesterday I was a freshman about to head on the field for the first time.”
Up next was the Homecoming show. Many of the students may remember the smoke machine, science teachers, and cool costumes; however, during this final performance, these parts of the show were omitted. The group of songs was “Come on Feel the Noise” by Quiet Riot, “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield, “Sweet Child o’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses, and “We got the Beat” by The Go-Go’s. “Jessie’s Girl” was the flag line feature with “Come on Feel the Noise” and “We got the Beat” was the highlight feature. The songs “Come on Feel the Noise” was combined with “We got the Beat”. After this show, Band Director Edwin Nabring mentioned that Assistant Brian Brookhart and Percussion Instructor Lea Byers wrote the sheet music for “Jessie’s Girl” the band.
Senior highlight Brynn Berryhill said, “[I will miss] the performances and the people. When you perform you get this amazing energy and it’s so nice and you realize that all the hard work was worth it. All of the highlights are like family to me at this point and I love them all so much and all of my friends in band are amazing and without band, I would’ve known them as I do now.”
To close the show, the band finished off with their senior show. The songs apart of this show were “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix, “Daft Punk medley” composed by Pentatonics, and “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance. At the beginning of “Welcome to the Black Parade”, there was a group solo played by the seniors and was the flag line feature for the show. The highlight feature was “Daft Punk Medley”. All of the songs in this show were picked by the seniors from years past.
In between each show, Nabring, the band director, would talk about a grade, say thanks to different people, and highlight a group in the band. I understand that there are a lot of people he has to thank, however, this part seemed quite long.
The only downside of the show was the weather. It was slightly chilly. Had I been better prepared, this would not have been a problem.
Traditionally this performance is held in the varsity gym, but that changed this year. The band was allowed to play at the stadium. This allowed the spectators to appreciate the shows in full. Another benefit of the show being held outside was it wasn’t so loud. When it was held in the gym, it was very loud, due to the small space and the large number of instruments.
Overall, it was a wonderful performance and I would recommend people attend next year. The band obviously spent a lot of time preparing and the preparation paid off. This show allows you to experience all the shows at once.
