Many of the high school bands performing during the halftime of football games on Friday nights are warming up for their own competitions.
Like the football teams that sweat under the blazing August sun, high school marching bands follow the same schedule with some enduring the twice-a-day practices like their helmet-wearing classmates on the football field. The Friday night halftime performance, however, helps get them ready for their own “game” on Saturday when they march in competitions around the state.
Five of Northwest Indiana’s bands ended their seasons Saturday on a mellow, fun note at the fourth annual Festival of Bands at Highland High School. More a showcase than an actual competition, the bands — Michigan City, Calumet. Hobart, Bishop Noll and host Highland — gave it their all one last time for a judging panel, said Highland Band Director Brian Blocker.
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“We run a circuit of between 12 and 15 bands that come to these shows,” Blocker said as his team wound down in the Highland High School library. “There are three to five judges for each show, and we use college directors as our judges; they evaluate performances on musical execution, visual execution and general effect.”
So, yes, there are judges at these showcases, but band members such as Caitlin Liskey, of Highland, don’t see their performances as competitive, at least among each other. To her, they’re more a personal test of ability and endurance, she said.
“We go to these each week, and each time, we think, ‘Can we do better than last week?’ Caitlin said. “It’s a competition against yourself.”
Caitlin, a senior who has played snare drum in the band for five years, couldn’t praise the Trojan band enough for a job well done even though this is her last year performing.
“It’s … sort of thrilling,” she said, pausing to collect her thoughts. “This is the final hurrah, so it’s the last mark you’re going to leave on the school and the program. And I’m so happy to have worked with such a great group, it’s overwhelming. This has truly been one of my best years.”
Caitlin, along with fellow senior Maya Davis, will miss the familial feel of being in a relatively small group compared with what they’ll be launched into in the fall. Maya, the band’s drum major, is hoping to study music education at Butler University and knows the band will be at least twice the size of what she’s accustomed.
“There is no one you didn’t know in this group, and in a big college band, you won’t have that, at least not right away,” she said.
The girls said they’ll also miss seeing their bandmates from other schools.
“I took a selfie with the Michigan City Wolf Pack. They’re so nice,” she said. “It’s so great that all the bands are nice to each other.”
Carlie Vittatoe, a senior with the Wolf Pack, doesn’t want her music skill to fall by the wayside, either, and also plans to join college band. A flautist, she plays the tuba for the marching band.
“The band feels like a family. I’m really going to miss it,” Carlie said.
“And me!” her pal, sophomore Cassie Mason, chimed in.
Jocelyn Langford, a Michigan City senior, was also a flautist before playing became sort of routine. Not wanting to leave band entirely, she joined its color guard.
“I’m looking into ‘guard’ schools, but if I don’t get picked, I’ll go back to my instrument because I want band in my future,” she said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter with the Post-Tribune.
Competition results
Here are the results from Saturday’s Festival of Bands at Highland High School:
Bishop Noll: Silver
Hobart: Gold in Music and General Effect Achievement
Calumet: Gold in Music, Visual, and General Effect Achievement
Michigan City: Gold in Music, Visual, and General Effect Achievement
Highland: Gold in Music, Visual, and General Effect Achievement
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Source: Brian Blocker, Highland High School