Last year the Hastings High marching band received a superior at state and as the new school year heads into full swing, the Marching Tigers are hard at work towards another high ranking. Anyone can be in the band and Adam Waite, the Drumline Director, says there is something for everyone.
  “Anyone can be in marching band. Even if you believe you can’t, there’s something for everyone to succeed at,” Waite said.
   Band starts in the summer with Tuesday night rehearsals in June and then band camp starts at the end of July. Band camp lasts eight days and includes drills, fundamentals, music, and parade marching. The band marches in the Kool-Aid Days parade and the drumline plays at the Fourth of July parade. As school began, the band started practicing at 6:30 a.m. every morning before class and Monday nights at 6 p.m. Courtney Junker, a senior in the Flute section, described that the practices encompass several things to help improve the show.
  “During practices, we still focus on what we learned during band camp but we mostly work on setting the show with our coordinate sheets. Closer to competition Saturdays, we run the show once then critique little hiccups we had while running the show,” Junker said.
   The competition season goes from September 17th until state on October 21st. Every Saturday the group travels to a different town to compete with bands from all over Nebraska. This year the band will show off their new show titled “FIVE”. Sophomore Isaiah Brant, who plays the Baritone, tells of how the theme “FIVE” is incorporated into their show.
  “Everything revolves around the number five. As in, there are five movements, the music is in five-four time which means all of the measures of music have five beats in them instead of four,” Brant said.
   The band performs on many different fields and some students have a preferred type of field.
  “Honestly I think it’s easier for the students to march on turf fields because it’s a lot smoother and won’t present the pot holes, mud spots, and bumpy, uneven ground that grass fields do,” Waite said.
 Brant and Junker both agree their favorite field to march on is at Hastings College, which has a turf field.
  “I enjoyed playing on the Hastings College field during state last year because I loved to get the home show field experience, and it is where we usually do our practice runs on Friday nights before we have a show on Saturday,” Junker said. Â
  The marching band is practicing for their competition season and would like their classmates to know that all of the hard work is worth it,
   “Marching band is a great experience for anyone. Everyone during marching season becomes one big family and competitions are not just competitions, they are learning experiences to work harder for the next competition,” Junker said.
   The band contains a huge amount of spirit and puts their all into every competition they face. The students reveal their favorite part of the experience,
  “I am competitive in everything I do, and marching band has a different type of competitive spirit, which I like,” Brant said.
  “My favorite part about competitions is getting to see all the other schools performances and just getting to meet other people from schools and how they show a lot of pride for their school,” Junker said.
   Waite is a former Marching Tiger and says his favorite part of the experience is his students’ success,
  “The best part about competitions is watching them succeed with their unbelievable talent. Especially now with the drum line, as a former drum line member, now an instructor, watching them kill it on the field makes me so proud. They are so unbelievably talented and I am so honored and blessed to have the opportunity to teach and work with every one of them.” Waite said.
  The marching band is set to perform their show “FIVE” at the home football game on September 30th with a parade in Grand Island and a competition in Lincoln the following day.
