WESTERVILLE NEWS
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| I took this pic from a cherry picker |
This year, the Westerville Central High School marching band has a new show symbolizing both stormy weather and the joys of sunshine.
“It’s entertaining music that’s accessible to anyone. It has hints of classical, modern and jazz music,” said Doug Hildreth, Westerville Central’s band director for nine years.
The show, Come Rain or Shine, features three selections.
Bartok String Quartet symbolizes a swirling hurricane and features the opening notes of the song, Ain’t No Sunshine.
The second movement is a ballad, meant to represent a rainy day, and is called Swing Shift.
The show closes with Blue Skies, by Irvin Berlin. The movement signifies the sun coming out to make things better.
Hildreth said at this point in the season, the students have learned the marching sets and music for the first two movements.
“There’s some tricky parts in this year’s music. I’m excited to see how the students will handle the challenges of the third movement,” Hildreth said.
Field commander Jacob Glorioso, a junior, said this show would be one of his favorites.
“I really like this year’s show. In the drill designs, there are a lot of swirls, and so it looks very flowy,” he said. “The whole show does a nice job of symbolizing storms moving into blue skies.”
The other field commander, junior Lizzie Zink, said it isn’t a typical marching-band show.
“Our show this year is different than what we’ve done in the past,” she said. “It’s like an art form, making all those pictures on the field while telling a story through the music.”
Hildreth said students had a good time at band camp this year.
“It was our best band camp that I’ve ever been a part of. The kids worked really hard,” he said. “I was impressed at how much information the students retained from those weeks.”
The 78 students in Central’s marching band spent July 27-31 at the high school from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Marching band isn’t all work with no play, though.
During band camp, students made their own spirit week with such themes as twin day, pirate day, Warhawk day, superhero day and section matching day.
At the end of every practice, Hildreth picks one student who went above and beyond that day, and the other students gather around, touch that student’s head, count to three and yell, “Go Warhawks!”
“It’s something little but it’s still memorable and makes you feel special,” Glorioso said.
This year, the band will compete at Bishop Fenwick, Westerville North and Colerain high schools, all leading up to their final Mid-States Band Association performance in Kings Mills.
The Westerville Classic competition, to be held at Central, is scheduled for Sept. 26.
“It’s one of the highlights of our season. We get to host bands from all over Ohio, show off our facility and our talented students,” Hildreth said.
The band also is participating in a tag-day fundraiser for the first time Aug. 22 and a fundraiser at City Barbeque on Sept. 9.
The marching band will perform during halftime at Central’s first home football game of the season Aug. 28.
For more information, go to wcmbmusic.org
Debbie Gillum Wakefield 