The 2024 marching band season has begun. After their exciting band season from last fall, they are getting back to the norm with the marching band practicing hard to get their music down. They are also finding out who will get solos for band and orchestra because it seems that orchestra members will be very important to the marching band show this year.
The show is called T2 and the theme for this is Taylor Swift and Tchaikovsky, two iconic musicians mixed together to make something new and beautiful that staff and students are super excited about.
Band director Elizabeth Parsons explains why they chose this interesting combo. “We chose T-Swift and Tchaikovsky for a few reasons. Our number one goal is to entertain a crowd. Taylor Swift certainly entertains a crowd,” she said. “Tchaikovsky gives it a classical twist while still having recognizable music. Their music surprisingly fits together extremely well- it’s pretty cool!”
Band director Tom Reifenberg is really excited for the show. “We have found recent success in combining two artists/composers that you wouldn’t necessarily hear together,” he said. “These two have music that fits very well together, surprisingly, and both are extremely well known.”
Lots of students are excited. ”I am very excited about this year’s show and I think it is very unique. I feel like the band will do very well at BOA this year with all the music and visuals. I also love the costumes for guard this year because they are different and very cute,” sophomore color guard member Kya Leach said,
But some students have concerns about the show like junior flute Clare Mosley. She is worried that the show is too close to the Little Monster Symphony from 2021 which was Lady Gaga and Mozart. “I personally didn’t like the theme because I never was much of a Taylor Swift fan, not that I don’t like her, and I thought it would be too similar to the Lady Gaga show that we did back in my freshman year,” she said. “However, now that we have played through the music more and learned about a lot of the unique features in the show, I’m definitely more excited about it.”
Another student who is concerned is junior saxophone Miles Neuman, who thinks that the orchestra will need to work together to make this work. “The orchestra being a part of the show is a fun idea, but I’m not sure how it’ll go,” he said. “Movement three kinda relies on the orchestra and it could go horribly wrong or it could go beautifully. They have to try out for the part so hopefully, it’s the ladder.
The band is putting their foot forward continuing the same energy from the amazing show last year making many excited to see what will come from this interesting duo of Swift and Tchaikovsky as the band keeps working through their weekly practices and band camp in July.
