By Tomas Palmieri
On October 29, the school band participated for the first time in the SoCal Super Show in Torrance. At this competition they competed against not only local schools, but schools from all around the country including Utah and Nevada.
In the overall competition, the band placed second among a total of five schools. Their scores in sub-categories include second place in effect, third place in music, second place in visual, first place in color guard, and first place in percussion. These band achieved these results through both hours of weekly practice and dedication from each and every member of the band.
Band competitions are almost always an entire day’s event in which the band gets to school around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. They do not finish their day until around 11:00 p.m. These competitions require extreme dedication as well as endurance to be able to get through the day, a feat only achievable by those who truly commit themselves to the band.
Every day most members of the band get to school at 7:25 am for their back to back zero and first period band classes to practice and refine their skills. Along with this, members of the band that play wind instruments must additionally practice from 5:00-8:00 p.m. on Thursdays, percussion players on Mondays from 5:00-8:00 p.m., and color guard members from 3:30-5:00 p.m. on Mondays. The band collectively practices for hours upon hours each week, and this intense schedule is a reduction of what practices used to be in previous years.
This year the band teacher Joseph Cooper decided to switch the teams division from Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) to Western Band Association (WBA), which hosted their latest competition in Torrance. Due to them recently switching, the band unfortunately lost their rivals and history with SCSBOA, but they are excited to begin their new chapter and find new rivals to truly test their skills against.
“I believe the gap between quarantine and now has definitely made things harder for the band, but a lot of students are already strong with their instruments since they have experience from middle school or before that. This gives us a great chance for success this season,” senior and clarinet section leader Emi Rother said.
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