Members of the Clarke Central High School marching band perform in 2019. Because of COVID-19, the marching band was not able to have a show this year, and is only doing stand tunes at the football games. “For the most part, everyone’s a little bit disappointed that we don’t have a show and we’re not going to competitions and stuff like that, but a lot of the stress and the strain of the marching band was just being out there in the hot sun and marching and stepping and walking, and you’re tired, and you wanna go home because your lips hurt, and you’re tired of carrying your horn up,” CCHS band captain Elizabeth Scott said. “So a lot of them are like, ‘well, now marching band season is just the fun parts.’” Photo by Luna Reichert
The Clarke Central High School marching band has been able to have rehearsals and play at football games, despite not performing a halftime show or competing in marching band competitions.
According to CCHS Director of Bands Chris Simpson, the CCHS marching band is not able to participate in marching band competitions for the 2020-21 season because of COVID-19.
“There are some (competitions) around the state but they’re not well populated,” Simpson said. “We have to kind of shift focus again, (without the competitions). We can spend more time on fundamentals, and on learning music and stand tunes, which the kids always love.”
For CCHS band captain Elizabeth Scott, a senior, competitions and the halftime show are a huge part of the marching band experience.
“If you were to ask a marching band student who has marched before (about marching band), they would tell you ‘Oh yeah marching band. That’s when you learn drill, and you learn based off of music for a show,’” Scott said. “You learn a performance based off of music for a show, that will be played on the football field for halftime for ten minutes, and then you go to competitions later on in the season, like around October, late October. But we have not had a show this year.”
“We’ve definitely had a blast being out there with the football team and cheering them on in our new renovated stadium.”
— Christopher Simpson,
CCHS Director of Bands
Even with the changes to the season, Simpson is glad to have a semblance of normalcy with the return of marching band.
“Right now we go (one) time a week, for two hours, and then a Friday night football game. We’ve definitely had a blast being out there with the football team and cheering them on in our new renovated stadium,” Simpson said.
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