The Colorado competitive high school marching band season has reached its end, and for seniors, it is a bittersweet feeling. Air Academy’s 2017 show, “Love Me, Love Me Not” ended the season at the top, receiving 87.5 in finals at state on Saturday and the gold medals.

It was especially important for people who were in the band last year to try even harder this year to finish out the season well and keep striving to be even better than last year. This season was quite a ride, the band was bigger than ever, 196 people strong (1/7 of our school’s population). The show was harder than ever, and the expectations were higher than ever. Our job was especially challenging this year since there were more freshmen and new marchers than we knew how to handle. In the end, we overcame the obstacles and moved everyone to a high level of marching.

We started out the season with our three weeks of band camp like we always do. During that time we learned the first 2 movements of our show and taught our marching techniques to the new students. Those weeks were hot and tiring, but very productive.

After school started, we still practiced every day. We worked 20 minutes into lunch, and we had practice every Thursday night until 8:30 pm. Even when it was cold and raining, we were still out there putting in the work every day to get our show to its full potential. 

Our first competition was at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. It was a 2 mile parade in full uniform in 96 degree heat. It was a brutal awakening to just how hard parades could be.  There were other bands there, and after the parade, we all played a portion of our music on a stage. We placed first for the parade, which was a great start and set the stage for the rest of the season.

After that, we started the real competition season. Our first competition was the Legacy Marching Festival at Legacy High School in Denver, where we received first place again.

“Before Legacy, I was seriously considering quitting, I didn’t see the point,” said freshman Erick Lehmkuhl. “But now I’m in to stay, this band is my family.”

This sentiment is shared by many of the freshmen in the band. Often, they don’t see how rewarding the endless hours we put in are until we perform it for a stadium of people who are there to see us perform.

With each competition, people get more into it and more dedicated. Our next competition was the Harrison Marching Festival at Harrison High School in Colorado Springs on October 14th. That day was FREEZING cold and some people were really struggling, but we made it through and once again got the top prize.

The next Wednesday night we had the Regional competition at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs, performing well that night and ranking at the top spot and earning placement into the semifinals at State. 

Now to the big event: the State Competition at Falcon Stadium on Saturday, October 28. The whole season, all the months and hours upon hours of practice led up to this day. We had practice after school four times in the preceding week. The night before, we did senior speeches, where the seniors gave advice and reminisced on the years we have spent in this activity with our friends. People were emotional, but most people were very inspirational and got revved up for state. The next day we came to school and practiced for a while before heading to the stadium. The parents always line up to cheer us on as we leave.

Our semifinals performance was great, and it landed us a 87.4. After we performed, we went back to the school and ate a delicious meal with dessert provided by the wonderful Mrs. Gandy.

We sat in the auditorium and watched our performance so that we could pick out the mistakes and see what to improve on. We practiced yet again until it was time to go back to the stadium to perform one last time.

When we get to the competition, the air is static. You can feel the excitement, nervousness, sadness, and intensity coming from the band. It was amazing that we could feel anything, considering that it was in the 20s, and we were freezing. Despite the weather, we still went out there and performed an amazing show. We all were intensely focused, and we really locked everything in.

After the final horn-snap, the bass drum rang out, and we turned to march off the field. As soon as we were off the field and into the tunnel, we ran. We made it to the top of the tunnel, and we cried and hugged and said goodbye to the show.

It was hard to say goodbye for the seniors because we have put years of our lives into this band. For some of us, it still hasn’t kicked in that we are done, that we will never perform on those fields again, never compete again, never be a part of that huge community that is present at the competitions. It is truly surreal.

We then went back into the tunnel to stand for retreat, which is when they announce the final rankings. As we waited to take the field for the final time, we sang “All Star” by Smashmouth at the top of our lungs, led by our own Brendan Rishavy, and did a few of our Kadet cheers.

When on the field, we were flanked by Loveland to the left and Fossil Ridge to the right. There was a moment during retreat where we had a moment of silence for band member that had been lost across the state. The announcer told us to take a moment and hug a loved one. We went to the Loveland band and hugged them, some “I love yous” were exchanged, and we then had a moment of silence. When they finally got to the 4A rankings, we joined hands with Loveland in anticipation.

Fruita Monumnet received 5th place with a score of 81.65, Liberty received 4th with  82.85, Mesa Ridge was 3rd with 83.10, Loveland was 2nd, with 85.80, and we received 1st place, with 87.50. As soon as we were allowed to break ranks, we hugged and congratulated the other bands in 4 and 5A divisions, and we received our medals.

This season was amazing, and I will miss every second of it. But don’t fret, there will be more of us to come on January 1st when we perform at the Pasadena Rose Parade in California!