Hastings Senior High School’s very own marching band performed at the state fair on August 26th to showcase their music to the visitors. The band pulled in a lot of attention when performing two parades throughout the fair.
“I thought the kids did a nice job. I always like the state fair because it’s not a difficult parade route and some early performance pressure, and the marriage of those two things usually works in our favor. And, I guess it gives us a chance to work on anything we need to after having a performance and a brief of the environment,” Mr. Beave said.
The marching band had its feedback from their instructor who was helping them at the parade and gave some more room to work on anything needed. A member of the marching band gave their own thoughts on the performance last Friday.
“I would say during our first performance we were all tired and ‘stiff’ the crowd felt dead but during the drumlines there cadence ‘Jerry’ we let loose and had fun and the crowd loved it.” percussionist junior year Jefferson Armstrong said.
“The band performed very well at the state fair this year. Despite having so many new freshmen, we all looked very sharp and it went great both times.” junior Alexndra Chipps said .
Armstrong and Chipps gave some of their own insight on the band’s performance from each of their perspectives during the band’s parade. Though there were some concerns prior to their performance.
“Well always at the state fair one of our primary concerns is heat, that’s why we had them go in shorts and tie-dyed shirts. And then, just making sure everyone has a good experience and nobody has any issues, and no one has any injuries or anything like that and we dont have any catrosphores.” Mr. Beave said.
Making sure all of the band members had an enjoyable experience was the instructors primary focus when the marching band was giving its performance.
“I think confidence was my biggest concern, we are a pretty “young” band this year so confidence has been an issue for a while but I think after the first parade we did great.” Armstrong said.
After the bands performance on Friday, there are still many other concerts ahead for the marching band, heres what they all had to say about what the band might accomplish in the future.
“After the fair, we started working on our movements for our upcoming show, Bent. This show will be what we perform at all of our competitions when we aren’t doing parades. We are working so hard in the mornings and we appreciate everyone’s support!” Chipps said.
Chipps mentioned after the fair they began to work on their next show, Bent. Mr. Beave had his own say in what the band could accomplish in the new year.
“Well you know, we have a couple of parades left that will be, it will be a good experience for that and just the performance of getting out there in front of people for some of the freshman calming their nerves, they kinda know what its about now and that will help us with our, when we start doing our field show competitions too.” Mr. Beave said.
Mr. Beave gave some information about how the bands performance could help the freshman build confidence for next upcoming shows and field competitions. Jefferson also gave his input on the subject as well.
“I think we will have an amazing year full of joy and laughter, there will be struggles but that’s why we put our blood, sweat, and tears into this band,” Armstrong said.
