ROGERS -- Football and fall, home game halftime shows and marching bands are more than tradition for band members.
They don't just play percussion or the tuba or the flute, said teens who make up the Mountie and War Eagle bands. They drill marching formations and practice music. They turn up for summer camps. They pile into cramped buses. They hang out in the band room whenever they can.
At A Glance
Coming up
• Rogers High School’s band will perform a Les Miserables-themed show this year. They will play during the Mounties home game vs. Siloam Springs on Friday. The game begins at 7:30 p.m.
• Heritage High School’s band will play during the War Eagles home game vs. Olathe, Kan., North. on Friday. The game begins at 7:30 p.m.
Source: Staff Report
They live band.
"To be in marching band there's two things," said Bill Rowan, Rogers High School band director. "You've got to play your horn well and you've got to march well."
Band rehearsal requires dedication. Every morning Mounties band members are on the field at 8 a.m sharp, Rowan said. School starts a half-hour later. Tuesday is a long day for band members, with a morning and evening practice.
"Point your toes toward me," Rowan shouted into his headset Tuesday night.
Band members checked their positions, worked through the steps, then the music of the performance.
"That was better on the sound. Do it again," he called.
And they did. Elbows out. Toes up. Instruments held high.
"It's very underrated how much precision has to go into this," said Grant Larkin, a drum major and a junior at Rogers High School.
The group is judged on the music and the symmetry of their formation.
"Inches are the difference between being in the right spot and being wrong," he said.
Rogers High School will have a "Les Miserables" show for their season. The music is more difficult than what they've done in the past, Larkin said.
"We're definitely going to step it up," he said.
Heritage High School's band is trying something different by playing four shows, said Doug Blevins, band director.
School started Aug. 18, and the War Eagle band's first performance was four days later at Arvest Ballpark, Blevins said.
Heritage will play a "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" show, a rockin' USA-themed show, a Disney contest show and a special show for the last home game on Halloween, Blevins said. It's a tall order, but he hopes it will make things interesting for both the home crowd and the band.
Students can be tired of the same show by the time competition ends, he said.
The number of students in the Heritage band fell from 140 to about 120 this year. There are 200 members in the Rogers band, Rowan said.
Blevins tells students to think of practice like a class. Counting up the summer work students put in gives the equivalent of eight weeks of sitting in class, Blevins said. Percussionists practice far more.
"The drum line just takes a special animal," he said.
The more you give, the more you get, Blevins tells his students.
"I think there's a lot of life lessons in that," he said.
Joel Reyes, Heritage sophomore, said he wasn't really sure about band his freshman year. The challenge of moving and playing his sousaphone is what makes it fun, he said.
"When you really get the set, it's awesome," he said.
Even missing a day of practice can mess things up, said Yanely Rodriguez, a junior at Heritage and flutist.
"The music is easy. It's just getting the steps in," she said.
Practice is a recurring theme for band members. The hours they spend together in the heat and form a special bond, they said.
"We're like a society," said Billy Brown, trombone player and a junior at Heritage.
"They don't just practice here. They go home and practice," said Holly Adams, a parent at Rogers High School.
Practice is required unless you want to get called out, said Jenny Chang, senior and color guard member at Rogers. All the rehearsals and work don't count if people see you drop a flag or look out-of-sync with the group.
All the students are supposed to look uniform, said Larkin, a drum major at Rogers. Last year one of the parents thought they were getting video of their teen, but videotaped the wrong student for an entire show. That tells him the group was good, he said.
April Shelby, band director at Elmwood Middle School, grew up playing in the Rogers High School band. She learned people skills, instrument skills and responsibility in finishing her homework, Shelby said.
Students learn their instruments in middle school, and high school adds a group dimension, Shelby said. The unity of the group is reflected in more than uniforms. Their personal actions on and off the field reflect on the group.
"It's life stuff that we talk about," Shelby said.
Joining band sounds fun and easy at the beginning of the year, said Abel Perez, a junior at Heritage and sousaphone section leader. That feeling doesn't last.
"Every year I do this I think 'I'm crazy.' It's so much work," he said. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but every year I redo it."
There's a magic in walking out under the lights, in step, in uniform and putting on a show, said Bryan Torres, a junior at Heritage. He plays the xylophone.
The first time he put on his uniform he felt it. His first show as a freshman he felt the atmosphere change when they walked onto the field. It wasn't just another group of kids jamming out on their instruments or joking around.
"As soon as we're under the lights, it's a whole different scenery," he said.
NW News on 08/30/2014