By: Isabella Kennedy

On Saturday, November 8, the MRHS Marching Band took its show to the Nationals Competition in New Jersey. Decked out in blue and silver uniforms with shiny instruments in hand, they were ready to prove they had earned their spot and walk away buoyed with success.

Getting to Nationals wasn’t an easy road. In order to make the competition, there were a couple of prerequisites.

“You have to perform a minimum amount of shows in order to qualify for Nationals,” marching band director Mr. Ellis stated.

As the MRHS Marching Band entertained students at football games, they were also devoting time to other band competitions in order to qualify for Nationals, eventually competing in four other competitions, including the state competition, before heading to Nationals. Players in the MRHS marching band had to put in hours of their time into practices and rehearsals.

“We had a lot of rehearsals, with percussion nights every Tuesday,” percussionist Ellie Cox commented.

The full band rehearses weekly, but percussion and color guard each have their own nights to rehearse, in addition to practicing with the full band. Coupled with practices during the school year, all players spent the last two weeks of their August summer at Band Camp, where they spent each day preparing for the school year.

An important aspect of their performance was the music involved. According to Mr. Ellis, “[The program] is custom-designed, and that process usually starts in January of the year before, and [the program] is usually part of a theme.” The process of designing the program takes many people, as “we have someone who custom arranges all the music and another person who custom arranges the drill… two [people] for percussion. . . one for visual choreography. . . another for color guard… about ten people in total,” Mr. Ellis
explained.

Many band players were excited about the music, especially composed just for the performance, and ready to perform it at Nationals. After months of practice, the students were feeling confident with the music, ready for their competition.

“We put in a lot of hours and tried really hard,” sophomore Kara Mehta said.

The band’s endless hours of preparation culminated in the Nationals competition on Saturday, when they piled into buses on their way to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the competition’s famous location. They performed at 10 pm, competing against the eleven other bands in their class group, ready to put their practice to the test, proud and confident in their work.

The MRHS Marching Band performed at MetLife and played through their pieces to the best of their ability. At the awards ceremony, they were awarded 10th place, solidifying their position among the top 10 marching bands in the nation. Make sure to congratulate them this week on their success!