As the marching band season comes to an end, a different kind of show is being developed – a show made and directed by the band members of the class of 2018.
Every year, the band directors make the decision to let the seniors of the PV marching band take the reigns and develop the final show. First, the seniors choose the music by giving suggestions and then voting. After the top 4-5 songs are voted on, the directors work to find the best music for a marching show and make the final decision on what three songs will be played. The directors then hand the show over to the students. Three groups of seniors are assembled, and each group chooses a song for which they develop the marching formations. The shows typically consists of easier and fewer moves than usual in order to ease the whole process. Jenna Ruccolo, a PVHS senior clarinet player who helped write the show for the third song, “Pompeii” by Bastille, says, “It was fun to work with some of my friends to make [the show] how we wanted it to be.”
This year the seniors chose three songs they thought would not only be fun to play, but special to their band. “We wanted to be unique,” comments Ruccolo. The three songs that we chose were “All Of the Lights” by Kanye West, “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5 and “Pompeii” by Bastille. “The songs are [different], but the seniors chose them so we got them good music for it,” says Drew Anderson, the head band director of the PVHS Marching Band. With “All Of The Lights” and “I Want You Back,” the students wanted to have fun and play music they’d otherwise never get to play. The last song was chosen for a more sentimental reason: “The seniors felt that ‘Pompeii’ should be their final song; [it] was the first song they ever played for a show, so they’re playing it for their last song of their last show,” comments Anderson.
As the day of the show rapidly approaches, the marching band continues to work hard to produce a fun and spectacular final show of the year. You can see them perform at the home football game on Friday, October 13th, during half time.
