Band athletes get ready for another season
For the last two weeks they worked in the blazing sun, doing drills and practicing their moves and footwork to perfection.
For two weeks the best marching musicians at North Fort Myers High School have put the beginning touches on their halftime and competition routines ahead of their season.
And unlike the football team, which is pretty much done after lunch, the band has stayed until the dinner bell rang.
Sarah Johnson, band director at North, started with a three-day percussion camp at the end of July before everyone reported for camp on Aug. 3.
“We come in and learn fundamentals of marching and music. We bring a whole staff in for more one-on-one time and so I don’t cry the whole time,” Johnson said. “It’s about teaching newbies how to march and refreshing the fundamentals that they may have forgotten over the year.”
That may sound odd, but the band’s season goes from August to mid-November, which is when their competitive season occurs along with football season.
It all started at 8 a.m. where the band loosened up, ran and worked on their marching steps on the hot blacktop before working on their marching routine the rest of the morning.
The band members (who all wore superhero clothing to help lighten the mood) all stood in a single file line, where they worked on marching forward, backward, sideways, you name it, all without instruments. Everyone had to have the right cadence, the right steps, even the right distance between steps.
Even when they worked on the actual show, it was done without instruments.
“We want them to concentrate on footwork and fundamental marching so they get it engraved in their heads,” Johnson said. “We’ll add that as soon as they get comfortable.”
Following lunch, afternoons were spent indoors, when it rained or became unbearable outside, working on the actual music for their routine, all culminating with a performance in front of parents and alumni Friday where the band put the first piece together.
With all the work they put in, Johnson said it’s frustrating that some believe being in band is easy.
“We know the commitment it takes and it’s frustrating to see the kids go through what we went through, convincing people this is a sport and it needs to be taken seriously,” Johnson said.
Johnson anticipates having the entire performance in the can by mid-September. The band will play at all football games home and away on Friday nights and compete on weekends against other bands.
It will be a young band, Johnson said, as a huge freshman class has come in to make the band more than 130 members strong, about 15 more than last year.
“We got a great response from the middle schools. The whole goal is to keep getting bigger and better,” Johnson said. “We’ve done well despite all the freshmen. They’ve gotten on the same page.”
Holly Hassett and Hannah Wagoner, the senior co-drum majors, said the team has really worked the last two weeks, thanks to the exuberant leadership of their director.
“Everybody says it’s not a sport, but once you do marching band, you know it is,” Wagoner said. “We are as good as we are because of all the passion and excitement she brings.”
“Johnson is genuinely excited for what she does. She’s like a coach who gets the team hyped up before the game, she brings that same attitude and keeps us energized,” Hassett said.