Heritage High School’s Julianne Harper may be approaching her senior year of high school under different terms than she’d imagined, but she knows that the principles she grew up with still apply.
All 2020 marching band competitions have been canceled, but Harper will still lead the 2020-21 Heritage band both on and off the field.
A clarinet player, who has been working towards this position since fifth grade, Harper said that the first few weeks of the Hawks season has been stressful.
Instead of just working on the marching band routine, the 32-member band has also expanded its pep band repertoire in hopes of being able to provide entertainment during indoor events soon.
“It’s not just about being drum major,” she said. “We’re going over all of it, we’re going over our pep band tunes so I have to practice my instrument along with being drum major, so I have to balance it out.”
But being part of the Heritage band has gifted Harper with so much more than just a few performances and a place to be creative.
“I just like how the band brings us all together as a family,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been friends with any of these people before, probably just because you have your own little group, but I’ve made a lot of friends here.”
She hopes those friendships last a lifetime. She also hopes that the lessons the group learns this year will also follow them into other situations throughout their life.
“Even though this is really hard, I hope they can get something out of it and it sticks with them,” she said. “I hope I’m doing my job correctly because it’s really hard this year.”
Harper said that her peers and the music department staff have been very helpful by giving her pointers.
“I was getting frustrated,” she said. “But they’re all telling me that it’s okay and they’re giving me things to say and how to word it. Everybody has been very helpful.”
She knows that her senior year will be difficult, but she hopes some things will happen. Even if football season is in the spring and she wears last year’s dress to prom, she hopes that some traditions will be able to carry on.
“I just feel like it’s our last year and we’ve got to make the most of it, you know. We can’t have our bookbags, can’t have lockers, classes are limited and so it’s nice to get to be with our friends.”
