The band has moved on from their “East Goes West” show and is now working on their new show which will be held on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. The next show is the annual Halloween show and will be student choice themed. Everyone is really feeling the spooky-season vibes, and to show off their spirit the band will be playing “Thriller” along with “September” and “Carry On Wayward Son.” As with all our East band’s Halloween shows, every section will dress up in a different theme. The choreography to these songs is still to be determined, but it will feature the 2020 boogiedown.

“I’m feeling really good. We got our music about a week ago, and I feel like we have learned it really fast and really well,” trumpetist Lillian Fergusson ‘21 said. “We are even considering adding another piece. I feel pretty confident about our ability to play it as a band.”

With the lack of choreography through marching, there is a large emphasis placed upon instrumentation. This has benefitted the band and their sound, as there is immense pressure to perform well musically as they are unable to perform through movement to make up for any musical mistakes.

“I think that playing without marching has definitely helped me improve music-wise,” clarinetist Lenka Fific ‘21 said. “I think this is because music is now the main focus and I’m trying a lot harder than I normally would since it’s the only thing we can perform to the audience!”

Musicality has improved across sections through this lack of marching. Woodwinds, brass, and percussion are all taking advantage of this new opportunity. 

“I was just thinking about this the other day,” Ferguson said. “I couldn’t nearly play as high as I can play now. The amount of time we are granted because we don’t have to march to work on the technicalities and the rhythms really build your ability to play. So I think I personally have improved and others have too.”

Section bonding has also been going well. Usually, section bonding includes going to a section leaders’, or the leader of one section of the band’s house during band camp.  Unfortunately, regular band and section traditions were limited this year because of coronavirus leading to difficulties being with sections or squads because of time constraints during rehearsals or social distancing. However, the different sections have been able to adjust well to these changes in different ways.

“We have a group chat so we talk a lot,” Ferguson said. “We’ve done a couple of sectional bondings where we got together in-person and social distanced outside, but not recently since school has started because schedules are crazy. We would hang out for three hours every Tuesday or Wednesday for the rehearsal.”

Fific ‘21 agrees that bonding during this period of transition and stress is extremely important and that the clarinets have been trying to bond more as well.

“We definitely have been bonding more and more through our rehearsals and trying to make them fun, especially during times like these where everything is so uncertain,” Fific said.

All in all, the band is marching on through their difficulties and persevering. Definitely make sure to go and see them at 7 p.m on the football field Wednesday, Oct. 21.