Junior Drum Major, Claudia Schmitz, and Senior Assistant Drum Major, Zach Long, lead the band on the field for yet another field show. They salute the press box to show that the band is ready to perform. Schmitz then makes her way up the drum major stand, as Long stands on the sideline, waiting for Schmitz to start up the band’s field show.

The minutes the band spends on the field between halves during home football games, gives the band an opportunity to shine. But their hard work pays off only because of the long hours spent throughout the summer, and before school hours.

Band director, Ben Johnson, spends more time than anyone on the field show.

“As far as over the summer, I put in over 80 hours, without students. We also hire a choreographer from UCM, and two and a half weeks of practice,” Johnson said.

The marching band has been very successful through the loss of many seniors, home football games, and competitions. “We’re moving along quicker than I expected,” Johnson said. The band received fourth out of eleven schools in their division at Carrollton on Sep. 20, along with being awarded second place in auxiliary. The band will be travelling to another competition on Oct. 18 in Odessa.

The band’s field show is based off of the word “fly.” The repertoire consists “Gonna Fly Now,” “Learn to Fly,” and “Come Fly With Me.”

“Last year’s was sort of a “around the world” theme. This year’s revolves around

the word, ‘fly’.”

With a bigger group of underclassmen than previous years, high expectations have been set, and big challenges have been faced.

“Everybody knows how to read music and play music,” sophomore Noah Long said. “But now they have to learn to march and memorize the music.”

Bigger challenges have also included selecting a new drum major. Drum Major, Schmitz has had to learn new ways to conduct.

“This year, I have had to focus more on making sure my conducting style is clear and I keep a steady beat,” Schmitz said, “because not only does the band watch me, but the assistant drum majors have to copy exactly what I do.”

The drumline has also put in time and effort into the show. Lone senior Megan Brown said the group will make it more interesting.

“This year we will do a lot more interesting music pieces that get to incorporate everyone’s percussion talents,” she said. “We will still do movements but there will be more focus on music.”