BY CHARLIE JORDAN
From halftime shows to the pep band behind the student section at basketball games, the band plays a prevalent role in high school society. While everyone in the school knows of the band, there are many misconceptions about it.
Sophomore Gian Carlo Vitela says, “Learning how to play the instruments is a lot harder than it looks.” He joined band when he was in seventh grade and is continuing to learn new music and new techniques.
Senior Ryan Duever explains that the biggest thing that should be understood: there is a difference between marching band–which is the band that participates at the football games–and concert band. Concert band is the band that preforms in front of judges for scores during concert band competition season which is Duever’s favorite part of band.
Similar to sports like football and basketball, every summer the band has a week-long camp at the high school during the dog days of summer. While both Vitela and Duever explained how hot and lengthy this week-long camp was,
“Around 7:30 we would walk or run a lap around the track as our warm up for the day,” says Vitela. After their warm up they start to play or learn the music before memorizing sets and wrapping up around four in the afternoon.
New to the program, Ms. Angela Pontious moved from mountainous Salt Lake City, Utah to suburban Mariemont, where she is most surprised by how the students are involved in more than just band.
“I think it’s really cool to have starters on the football team participating in band and playing at the half times of games,” says Pontious.
So far Pontious is enjoying her work at Mariemont.
“The community is very welcoming; it is nice to get back to a smaller school system,” she says.
She intends to build the program off of what Mr. Richard Canter built up before he moved onto Walnut Hills. She believes that the band is essential to the community. “They will be able to take this with them after high school; they can play an instrument their whole life,” she says.
For freshman Jackson Comer, she is making the transition to high school band easier than expected.
“The transition to high school band was very easy,” says Comer. “Ms. Pontious preps us for a harder and more technical band experience,” he says.