The Chamblee Marching Band performed at their first game on August 23 against Tucker, a home game that many Chamblee students attended. While the football team lost, the marching band had a victory in their successful halftime show. Many band members are satisfied with their performance, saying it was a good starting point.
Garrett Moore (‘25), a member of Chamblee’s marching band, said, “As a band, we’ve had worse first performances before. That was overall pretty decent for a first performance.”
In late September and October, the band will participate in competitions to assess their marching band show, The Big Apple. Of course, many students are looking forward to this and hope they will place high.
Chamblee’s marching band has multiple student leader, such as the drum majors, Kirsten Gabriel (‘26) and Jacky Perez (‘25) who lead the band and make sure they stay in time.
The marching band is overseen by Ms. Marin and Mr. Ely. Ms. Marin takes care of the musical aspects, such as what songs they will play. Meanwhile, Mr Ely takes care of the technical aspects, such as marching technique. He has been the assistant marching band director at Chamblee since 2002. He hopes the marching band will approve their musical and teamwork abilities over this season
Mr. Ely said, “This is a talented and dedicated group. They will do well and the sky is the limit.”
Marching band requires a large time commitment to perfect their show, so they have to stay after school for hours three days out of the week and even longer on game days. However, many students do not mind it. They think it is useful to improve their skills.
Olive Kye-Smith (‘25) said, “I’ve accepted [the time commitment] and just embraced it. I can definitely see it being an issue for some other people, but I feel like we can work through it.”
Gabriel said, “If you’re willing to put in the effort, then the commitment becomes less of a big deal because you’re genuinely interested.”
The benefits of this time commitment were illustrated by Moore, who explained that a good performance is dependant on the effort put in.
Moore said, “I think that it’s necessary, in order to build the right community.”
The overall opinion of marching band members is positive. Many students enjoy the social aspect and being able to enhance their music playing.
Gabriel said, “I joined marching band in my freshman year because I am super into music, and it was another way for me to be more involved and get to play my instrument. “
Another marching band member, Moises Ocanando Hernandez (‘25), said, “This year so far has been my best year for marching band. We have had so much more improvement compared to previous years, and it’s really fun”
Moore summarized the opinions of many when he described his joy in participating in the band.
He said, “I love marching band. I have every year, and I would do it a fifth year if I could.”
