Heritage Marching Band finishes season with great memories

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com

The 2019 Heritage High School Marching band season provided students with a “suitcase of memories.”

The show titled “Time After Time” landed the Hawks first place at the Danville Viking Invitational and the Effingham Invitational. The group also captured Outstanding Percussion and Outstanding Visual honors in Danville and Oustanding Music in Effingham.

From the moment students stepped onto the field for band camp in August, they bought into Director Justin Lee’s vision.

“I loved our show this year,” Drum Major Jada Davis said. “I loved the “Time After Time” theme, and from the beginning, I knew it was a show that would fit our group well.”

In her first year as drum major, Davis had her sights set on a first-place trophy, but even more, she wanted her band to experience the same environment that she did as an underclassmen.

Setting down her flute after seven years, Davis said, “It was the position where I thought I could have the most impact.”

Coming out of band camp, the Hawks had their music memorized and about two-thirds of their drill in place.

The Hawks were scheduled to perform at Monticello on Sept. 14, but Lee pulled them out early to add the final details before the competition.

“I didn’t feel we were at our best,” Lee said. “It wasn’t because they lacked effort; it was because I had taken their enthusiasm and pushed too much on them too early.”

Instead of throwing the group into the competition, Lee called the band to the practice field where they tightened up their performance in preparation for Danville the next weekend.

The group saw their efforts pay off quickly.

“The highlight of the season for me was the first performance at Danville in September,” Davis said.

“Coming off the field, I knew that we just had the best run of the show so far in the season. Standing on the field during awards the nerves were hitting me and I wasn’t sure if we were going to pull it off.

“When they announced ‘first place goes to Heritage High School,’ it was the best feeling.”

Lee said the win helped the performers get into the “we’ve got this” mindset.

“At that point, we considered the ‘bones’ of the show to be in place, and every rehearsal became about making each section have the maximum impact possible,” Lee said.

The Hawks went back to work. Lee shared the original judge feedback with their music in the background with his students.

“Some tapes have one or two things we can use, others are eight minutes of gold, and this year we had a few of those,” Lee said.

Together, they go line-by-line, looking for one or two improvements they can make that fufill their long-term vision for the show.

“Every judge looks for different things,” Lee said. “We need to find that common idea that gives it clarity and can also be taught in the little time we have.”

Lee said that by the time the Hawks got to Effingham in October, the show was “second-nature, and had a really energetic, sharp feel to it.”

Davis said that as her time with the Heritage Marching band comes to an end, she knows she was part of something special.

“(Marching band) isn’t your typical sport or club,” Davis said.

“In marching band, you get to do a little bit of everything — using both your mental and physical strength.