Marching Band—Past, Present and Future

In previous years, the Samo Viking Marching Band has always been ahead of the game. This year, they have been working even harder to reach a new level. Through their efforts, they completed their competitions with flying results, scoring 79.4, 82.8, 85.5, 81.7 and 84.9 in their competitions. In the Finals, they got a score of 90.5, winning them fourth place in the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) 4A division. “The competitions have been strong,” band director Kevin McKeown said. “In the first two competitions, we’ve taken first place in our division. We’ve had some high scores in areas that we haven’t had high scores in the past, one being visual effect.”Not only have they polished their musical ability, they’ve also outdone their previous years by making advancements in their choreography. “[We are] a ‘double threat’, because we are now able to incorporate elements of dance and ballet into our show, as well as our extremely difficult musical repertoire,” drum major Duncan Smith (’17) said. Many marching band members feel that this is an improvement due to the attitude of all the members, especially the freshmen.“The freshmen all have great attitudes,” Jackson Weill (’19) said. “They really want to improve the show and that’s fantastic [because] I think that’s what’s making us a better team.”For the short and glamorous moments in the limelight, marching band members have been training tirelessly. Two weeks prior to the start of the school year, McKeown started his annual band camp that went from 8 a.m. to noon. During their season, they practice for nine hours a week and arrive at school at 7 a.m. even on late start Wednesdays. “I feel that every morning rehearsal is so important,” Iman Honardoost (’17) said. “Every day, we only have a little under an hour to practice for a 10 minute show. Not a minute can be wasted because they’re all so valuable.”McKeown urges others to join because of the great values that marching band encourages. According to McKeown, marching band is hard work and teaches discipline which can become a useful skill later in life. “If you have discipline to show up for seven o’clock marching band, you have discipline to take care of stuff in college, be at work on time, pay bills, manage your life and I’d like to see it be celebrated by more students in our overall music program and outside,” McKeown said.According to Eddy Martinez (’19), effort is important, especially for championship week. Although they started to lose their stamina towards the end of the show, the members knew that they had to push through it.“Spots like music effect, visuals, and tempo go down as the show comes to an end, and effort is what is going to help us go through that and become successful,” Martinez said.Looking back at the season, Isaac Izquierdo (’17) reminisces the time that the team has spent together, working towards their mutual goal.“I really enjoyed being with friends and making new ones,” Izquierdo said. “We made a lot of memories and had a great time.”According to Smith, the seniors will miss marching band and wish the team the best of luck next year.“I hope that the same wave of momentum that has began this year will get even stronger,”  Smith said. “A lot of the year people were concerned with getting first, second or third and I hope that the band will be able to accomplish that for next year. Most of all, I hope that the next couple of years are as memorable as this one.”