Heritage Student Part Of Orange Bowl Band

Marching, Music Stamp Bowl Ticket For Rogers Teen

Chris Zupan, a senior member of the Rogers Heritage marching band, is the only Arkansas high school band representative chosen to march and perform at the Jan. 3 Orange Bowl.

Chris Zupan, a senior member of the Rogers Heritage marching band, is the only Arkansas high school band representative chosen to march and perform at the Jan. 3 Orange Bowl.

Friday, January 3, 2014

ROGERS — When the All Star Invitational Marching Band plays at the Discover Orange Bowl tonight, Northwest Arkansas will be represented.

Chris Zupan, a senior at Heritage High School, will be the sole Arkansan playing in the high school band of about 100 students. Zupan, as part of the band, will be a part of the pregame show, help support the flag during the national anthem and play with the Ohio State University and Clemson University bands.

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After he is finished playing, he’ll look up at the stands and enjoy the moment, Zupan said, but as a performer, he has to be focused.

“The thing about band is you can’t cram for it,” he said.

The challenge of marching band isn't just the music, Zupan said. His feet have to stay on beat with the music; the music has to sound good. When marchers move backwards, their heels never fully touch the ground. He works to keep from bobbing the trombone, which would garble the music, and he keeps the sound pointed up to the stands. Then there is the list of positions he memorizes in addition to the music.

“You have all this stuff you have to do at the same time,” he said. “It’s a lot more mental work than normal band.”

Doug Blevins, Heritage band director and lead music teacher, nominated several students for the All Star Invitational Marching Band. Students have to pull together the application with their honors and awards and unedited video of their performance.

There are just less than 200 students in the band program at Heritage, and 130 of those are in marching band, Blevins said. Every high school teacher can submit only five names.

“It’s quite an honor that he was selected,” Blevins said.

Zupan almost didn’t march in high school.

Zupan played football his freshman year. Blevins said he encouraged Zupan to continue his music. Now Zupan hopes to net a music scholarship and play trombone professionally after college.

College scholarships are increasingly competitive in music, Blevins said. He has seen fewer students being awarded music-specific scholarships in the past two or three years. Where before students had to be good, now they need to be exceptional and have a resume of other performances, Blevins said.

Before he flew out Monday for a week of practice in Florida, Zupan said he was more concerned with his All Region performance than the music for the game. The talent pool in Northwest Arkansas offers stiff competition, he said.

When Zupan started playing trombone in sixth grade, he was one seat away from becoming a percussionist. Most of his classmates wanted percussion, Zupan said, and he didn’t make the cut. He auditioned for trumpet, but his lips didn’t create the tight buzz needed to play so he started playing trombone instead.

That may have played in his favor.

Trombone has the lowest retention level from sixth grade through high school, said Michel Burner, his teacher.

Every other instrument in the brass section — trumpet to tuba — has a button that controls the combination of notes. The combinations may need memorizing, but the player knows which buttons to push.

“It’s a set thing,” Burner said.

On the trombone there is no button that controls the note. The slide and the amount of air pushed into the instrument controls the sound. To tune the instrument, the player needs to hear his note and match to where others are playing by putting the slide into the right place.

“It takes a special ear to be able to play the trombone well,” Burner said.

“If you’re off just a little bit it’s extremely easy to hear.”

Burner, who graduated from Heritage in 2010 and is a senior at the University of Arkansas, said Zupan’s Orange Bowl visit is a unique opportunity.

Opportunity is part of what band is about at Heritage, Blevins said. Some students, such as Zupan, commit to the extra hour of practice every school day, the Friday night football, Saturday events and two weeks of practice days during the summer.

“We put in as much time as any football player might,” Blevins said of the marching band.

With the effort comes the opportunity to travel and play. The All Star Invitational Marching Band shared a practice field this week with Ohio State's band, after the college band’s practice field became unavailable and college band members gave clinics to the high school students.

The thing about band at Heritage, Zupan said, is that it's family.

Not every student has to almost live at the band room to have the high school band experience, Blevins said.

“There’s a place in it for every kid,” Blevins said.