Band and Eaglettes take Pictures to St. Louis
November 12, 2018
Field show is an event when drill team and marching band perform for competitions and entertainment. During the summer, to kickoff marching season, they have a week-long band camp. During the school year at 7:00 am the band and drill team are on the field practicing their field show. Not only do they practice in the mornings, they work on Thursday nights from 6:30-8:30 pm.
This year the show entitled “Pictures” contained four songs. “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky, “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran, “7 Years” by Lucas Graham, and “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga. Patrick McCarty explained how the theme “Pictures” was decided. “I have always had a show idea built around the idea of pictures at an exhibition, it’s a really great classical piece. Shortly after I came across a mixture of Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” and Lucas Graham’s “7 Years” on YouTube and that sealed the deal. This was a recipe for a really great show.”
With 190 people on the field for this show, 156 students in march- ing band and 34 students on the drill team, the show is huge. With new staff members working on the show this year has been different from past years. “Our band has gotten much stronger at marching and has become so much more exciting and musical. We work to produce a better product. Our new staff members push us to be better in every rehearsal and the band family supports each other,” drum major Maddie Cain explained.
Drill team captain Grace Williams described how described how this year has been good for the team. “It was awesome to incorporate varsity and junior varsity into a big part of our season. It allowed us to become closer as a team early into the season and overall it was really fun working together.”
The band and drill team have been to three competitions this year. The first one was the Blue Springs Marching Festival on September 29th in Blue Springs, Missouri. The band first made it into finals and then placed 9th in finals. McCarty reveals, “We were against a lot of really great bands.” The next competition, The Kansas Bandmasters Association on October 20th, was in Topeka, Kansas; the band made it into finals and then placed 7th as a whole and the drum line and color guard placed 5th. The last competition the band took part in was Bands of America in St. Louis, Missouri. There was a total of 80 bands at this specific competition. The band placed 40th place out of 80 of the best bands in the United States.
The Bands of America was the biggest competition of the year. The band made sure everything was perfect before performing, even making last minute changes the week of the competition. On Friday morning, the band and drill team practiced and then hit the road to head to St. Louis. The band walked out and filled the dome with music.
For many the BOA competition was the final field show performance with Olathe North before they graduate. Marching season can create so many things, from brand new friendships to millions of memories according to band and color guard. Some of the students who are graduating this year discussed what they love and are going to miss about field show.
Senior, Lily Matuszeski recalled, “The new band friends I made and all the laughs when we get tangled in our flags.”
“I love getting to work with the band and all the fun memories from competitions,” senior, Cassie Walsh described.
“I will miss the memories we make through the long hours with all of my best friends, I love the passion of creating something so genuine and unique with so much love,” Katie Bailey explained.
Lastly, senior, Brian Weber said, “I really enjoy learning field show during band camp. We spend a week straight together so by the end of the experience, my section becomes like a family to me and it seems like were all in it together.”
It is clear to many of the band students and drill team members how important field show is to them.
Now that the season is over, everyone in band has to audition so they can get placed into Concert Band, Symphonic Band or Wind Ensemble. Then they have the option if they want to do Pep Band. As for drill team, they will prepare for Nationals and Spring Show.
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