Marching Classic Saturday

“We pretty well hit the ground running,” observes NRHEG Secondary School band director Seth Schaefer. “We had a lot to do, and we couldn’t let the complications get in our way.”

 

The “complications” of which he speaks are a disassembled band room, the need to store instruments and music in alternate locations, and the lack of a place to keep marching band uniforms.

 

“Trombones and saxophones definitely will not fit in a student’s locker,” he says with a shake of his head. “And as for drums, well, they’ve got to have their own space.”

 

The tasks he refers to are getting the band as a whole, along with each musician as an individual, ready for rapidly approaching performances.

 

First up is the Waseca Marching Classic set to take place in Waseca this Saturday. The 22 members of the band will appear in the event’s noontime parade. Schaefer says he will also encourage his musicians to watch the 5:30 field show competition, but the Panthers will not be competing in it.

 

“It’s good background for them to see what other groups are doing,” comments Schaefer, saying he hopes to put together a field show to be performed during one or two home sporting events later this fall and during the indoor marching band concert.

 

Overall, he observes, “September is bananas in music education.” In addition to any competitions like the Classic, musicians must come up to speed for pep band performances at sports events, including football and volleyball games; over the course of the year, he says, those are likely to average about one a week.

 

Homecoming with coronation, the parade and the pep band, will be the week of Sept. 23 to 27. The band will appear in all three. Schaefer mentions the school vocal music department is working to prepare a number for coronation.

 

Neither Schaefer nor drum major Grace Starman were taken by surprise as the school year began and the band room remained unfinished. The extra-large space with its tiered layers of floor and many shelves across the back was disassembled to allow for removal of asbestos right away in June.

 

During the project, workers discovered some underlying structural problems not related to asbestos. The school district applied for a permit to repair them during June, according to district superintendent Michael Meihak, and has yet to receive approval. At this time, the framework for the raised floors is in place, but the room is impassable.

 

Percussion instruments and other large items are stored on the school’s stage. The junior high and senior high bands have been practicing either outdoors or in one of the gymnasiums.

 

Starman mentions it has been traditional for the Panthers to take part in the Waseca Marching Classic, although the group missed last year because Schaefer had only recently been hired as the new director.

 

“We’ll be ready,” she says confidently. “We know what to do, and we’ll get it done.”