It’s time to march forward.
That’s the approach the Heritage High School marching band is taking as they approach the 2021 competition season.
“Instead of looking for a negative and thinking about lost ground, we’re actively talking about this year as a big reset,” band director Justin Lee said. “The focus is on new traditions, new successes.
“We’ve had a very good past four years, but those kids are mostly gone, so I’ve asked them to make this their own. I asked everyone to take on the mindset and openness of a first year student.
“This gives us a chance to make sure we have a common vocabulary and skill set as we teach everything, and we are teaching everything from scratch. I even brought out beginning band method books to ensure we didn’t have any skill gaps.”
The 31-member band is also very young; 17 members are first-time marchers.
“Our experienced students have stepped up in a big way to help model and teach fundamentals as well as be strong character and musical role models,” Lee said.
After focusing on group sound and group movements, building the parade and pep band tunes library, the Heritage band is focused on being on the field as much as possible and producing quality music for their crowds.
Using six hours each day last week, the group began their preparation for “Tail of the Beast,” an original piece from Eric Rath.
“The show and drill are not technically difficult, so we’re spending time getting the details down now, so we don’t have to revisit them later,” Lee said.
Drum Majors Brodie Meneely and Sam Gilbert led the way.
“They have been fantastic, and much of the week I’ve turned the band over to them,” Lee said. “They’ve been teaching skills, running music sectionals, and leading the full ensemble.”
The seniors are also on the field, at times, playing the sousaphone.
“Additionally, we’ve had numerous students step up this year to be excellent role models,” Lee added. “Our alto saxes – Joel Bear and Fletcher Hannah – are helping to teach basic skills and also bring a lot of great humor to the group. The clarinet section is super-young, but you wouldn’t know it from the music they’ve made this week.”
Lee added that the group followed COVID-19 mitigations, wearing masks while indoors and using social distancing while outdoors.
Their show will travel to Monticello, Danville, Metamora, and Effingham this fall. They will also march in the Broadlands and Potomac parades.
“The parades aren’t competitive but are a fantastic chance for community outreach,” Lee said.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing the final product come together by mid-September.”
