Fresh off a trip to Indianapolis for the Bands of America Grand National Championships, members of the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band members sat around a table in the George N. Parks Minutemen Marching Band Building yesterday afternoon, reflecting on the past weekend.
The best high school bands in the country compete at the championship event, with the UMass band serving as a special performance.
“It’s really a great honor to be invited to perform at Bands of America,” said freshman tuba player Brian Lang. “These are the best high school bands in the country and to be acknowledged as one of the best college bands in the country is just a great honor.”
This was the fifth time the UMass Marching band has travelled to Indianapolis to perform in BOA and the first time since 2007. The show consisted of “Dance of the Witches’ Sabbath” by Hector Berlioz, “You Can’t Stop the Beat” by Marc Shaiman, “1812 Overture” by Peter Tchaikovsky, and “Big Noise” by Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc.
“[BOA gave the band] a chance to represent the University to a very important audience,” said Band Director Timothy Anderson. “It was a chance to recruit from among the best high school players in America and show off what we are to a large audience. They seem very exhilarated because they worked very hard from August up until this point.”
The band had been preparing for this weekend – which consisted of a 13-hour bus ride – since they were invited this past summer. According to band members, it was well worth the effort and rehearsals to perform in the Lucas Oil Stadium at BOA along with 100 bands from across the country.
The band consists of approximately 380 students, according to Anderson, who were all present on the trip, giving many students opportunities to meet band members they had not yet had the chance to talk to.
“You just start talking to random people you’ve never talked to, meeting new people in the band and other bands,” said sophomore clarinet player Andrew deMelo. “The bus ride was long, but awesome. We tried to find fun ways to keep ourselves occupied.”
Freshman trumpet player Adam Whitcomb agreed that the social aspect was a highlight of the trip.
“Getting to meet people in our band who I’ve never met before and meeting people in other bands was really cool because we saw mostly high school bands there,” he said. “And since we’re a college band I could sort of look back and see myself there.”
The percussionists performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention during the weekend, which Anderson said was “a big deal for them.”
“It was exciting. The students performed very well they earned the right to have that moment,” he said.
Whitcomb said among all the excitement, the performance was the best moment.
“The performance was the highlight of the trip,” said Whitcomb. “Going onto the field was such a feeling of focus. Going off the field was just the best band-high.”
After spending Thursday night in Avon Lake, Ohio along the way, the band spent Friday night at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis. One word frequently used to describe the trip was “amazing”. Freshman Clarinet player Kaloy Miller said the performance went “amazingly” and that every rehearsal leading up to the trip showed the band at its best, working harder than usual and perfecting their music for BOA.
“It’s really such a great experience to play for that many people and have that many people hear what you’ve got,” said deMelo. “Our performance was really, really good. It was just so much fun and the crowd was on their feet the entire time.”
Band members said they had been looking forward to this weekend all semester, anticipating the opportunity to perform among so many other talented bands.
“It was amazing in every way,” said Miller. “I met a lot more people and got closer with my section and with the entire band. The performance went amazingly. Everyone had that focus and intensity and knew what to do because we’ve been doing it for so long.”
Steffi Porter can be reached at [email protected]
