The indoor color guard season has begun with their announcement of this year’s show, “Equinox.”
The show depicts the relationship between nature and the changing seasons in a tragic love story between spring and winter. Based on the spring equinox, which unofficially marks the beginning of spring and is traditionally observed as a time of rebirth and renewal, it highlights the only day of the year where spring and winter can meet before they are forced to separate until the next year. The show will be performed to the song “First Light,” by Hozier. “I’m really looking forward to the performance of the show. I love every aspect, the song choice, the concept, and the work that has been given so far,” color guard co-captain Summer Yao said.
The color guard has earned accomplishments in recent years, winning third place at championships during last year’s winter season. This year, the two color guard coaches have stressed the importance of projecting emotions to the judges and audience due to this year’s show concept revolving heavily around love and tragedy, which students view as one of the most difficult parts of the show. “Personally, I think that this show will require a lot of characterization to perform due to its ‘love story’ aspect, which can be challenging. I have to put myself in the situation of being in love with someone I can only meet once a year, and find a way to portray that to the audience,” Yao said.
The color guard’s first competition is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Feb. 1, and their final championship will be held on Saturday, Mar. 29, with competitions taking place on almost every Saturday after Feb. 1. This year, the color guard welcomed four new members, with a new total of 12 students on the team, and biweekly rehearsals started in mid November in order to give everyone ample time to learn basic technique and solidify fundamentals.
Additionally, indoor percussion is taking a new approach to their usual winter season. Rather than producing a show and participating in competitions like they typically do, indoor percussion will instead be holding weekly rehearsals for one-on-one lessons. “We didn’t have quite enough students who are interested in the time commitment of creating a whole produced show, which is definitely a lot of work and effort and money, and we thought that we could make best use of everybody’s time and development if we go with a different model this year,” band co-director Carolyn Herman said.
These weekly lessons are open to all students of all experience levels free of charge, but the lessons are mostly geared toward middle schoolers who hope to continue playing percussion in high school. “[The middle school students] can’t commit to a high school schedule, and they just need time to develop their skills and grow without being overwhelmed,” band co-director Susan Eckerle said.
While this is a change to what students are accustomed to, both band directors are hopeful that this will help young students improve their skills to prepare for high school expectations and next year’s indoor percussion season. “Hopefully, kids who would want to perform in marching band next year will join so that we can be developing and growing, and then maybe next year we’ll be able to do an indoor show with competitions,” Herman said.
