Kent City — This time of year, marching band class at Kent City High School can be a pretty complicated affair. It takes seven to 10 minutes for members of the band to push, pull or carry equipment out to the parking lot behind the band room; set up the drum major stands; plug in keyboards, microphones and speakers; and start warming up.
Practice itself is a hodgepodge of musical segments, fancy footwork and waving flags, as the band runs through specific parts of its performance that need more finesse. Between measures, Director Jonathan Schnicke calls out notes to improve for the next take: the woodwinds are a bit flat; the snare drum a millisecond off. Shading their eyes from the sun, the student musicians move back into formation to take it again from the top.
And at the end of class, it’s seven to 10 more minutes to unplug, tear down, lug everything back inside, pack up instruments and get the band room reset for the next class before the bell rings.
“Modern marching band is as much a production as theater — especially at the level that we try to achieve,” Schnicke said. “It’s a big effort every day; nobody doesn’t have to push or pull something to make it happen.”
This Saturday, Kent City will host a state championship qualifying contest for the Michigan Competing Band Association. With 26 Michigan schools set to participate, it will be the largest MCBA event in the state this fall, which is why Kent City is partnering with neighboring Rockford Public Schools to hold the event at Rockford High School’s larger stadium.
As hosts, the Kent City band will perform last at the eight-hour event, showcasing their “I Love Lucy” routine to potentially one of their largest audiences of the season, since smaller schools often perform earlier at competitions.
It’ll be a 14-hour day for the student musicians from morning rehearsal to returning home around midnight, but the effort is worth it for the experience, said percussion co-captain and synth player Ava Robinson.
“I’m really excited to be able to see the other bands, especially the shows from the Flight One or Flight Two schools, which are the biggest schools,” said Ava, a senior. “It’s cool to see what schools with way more members are able to put out. But I think we’re doing quite well and have a lot of good stuff prepared.”
’On a nice trajectory’
In the final days before Saturday’s exhibition, the 49-member ensemble (plus 11 students on the prop crew) have been working to clean up their routine, make their movements more precise and focus on small elements of the performance. Those focus areas can vary widely depending on which section of the band you’re in, Ava explained.
“For (percussion co-captain) Parker and I, it’s a lot of planning for transportation, because we have massive instruments to move; we’re planning how to get them into the trailer, how we’re going to get them to the rehearsal site, all of that,” she said.
The percussion section also plans its own rehearsal time outside of band practice: “We do a lot of independent practice and hold our own little sectionals — there is a lot of energy that goes into (preparations), especially for captains, but really for all of us.”
Elsewhere in the band, drum major Aaron Schnicke said he’s been zeroing in on getting some of the nuances of the performance exactly right.
“In the contrasting parts (of the music), it’s about making sure that the loud and the quiet (parts) are very different,” he said. “And if it’s a happy song or a sad song, we want to make sure that we convey that through the music.”
Aaron and fellow drum major Alisah Koetje, both juniors, are tasked with leading the band and keeping everyone on beat during performances, giving them a good feel for how the performance is coming together as a whole.
“Our third movement and first movement probably need a bit more work, I think, because we’ve been slacking a bit, but they just need a few more reps and we should be pretty good,” Aaron said.
MCBA State Championship Qualifying Contest, hosted by Kent City Marching Band
When: 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12; Kent City’s exhibition performance of “I Love Lucy” at 9:20 p.m.
Where: Rockford High School
Who: 26 marching bands from across the state, including from Kent County: Sparta, Godwin Heights, Rockford, Grandville and Cedar Springs
Logistics: Kent City Director Jonathan Schnicke said close to 150 volunteers from both Kent City and Rockford schools are pitching in to run the event: “The fact that two local school districts are coming together to benefit and showcase our bands … that kind of collaboration is very unique, and it’s a great thing for education.”
This ensemble has been playing together since band camp in the second week of July; since then they’ve had numerous Thursday night sectional rehearsals, Tuesday night full-ensemble rehearsals and even some Saturday rehearsals. Schnicke said he’s been “really pleased” with how the band has meshed this year.
“I feel like we’re on a nice trajectory right now,” the director said. “Usually when we get to this point (in the season) we’re still scrambling a little on notes and rhythms, and we’re not having to do that now. I’m really happy with where they’re at and looking forward to playing under the stadium lights — that will be a pretty special thing.”
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