BHS goes on Mission
Bearden High School Band members will be taking its audience on a mission as it prepares for the season with band camp.
Band members are gathering for the annual band camp, which started Monday, July 18, and will continue until Friday, July 29.
Band camp is dedicated to teaching marching and instrument basics and learning the music from this year’s theme, Jessica Cline, BHS drum major said.
Led by Cline and fellow drum majors, Samuel Vogel and Garrett Coppock, the theme will be Mission: Space.
“Our first movement is ‘lift off,’” Vogel said. “The second and third movements are ‘traveling through space’ and the fourth movement is ‘coming back down to Earth.’”
The band will be using music from Gustav Holst, who wrote the ‘Planet Suite.”
“We are using Jupiter and Mars,” she said.
“Our show uses different excerpts from pieces that resemble the space theme, such as ‘Resplendent Glory’ and ‘The Rocketeer.’
The band’s first show will be during the football game Friday, Aug. 19, its first home game. Its first competition, a marching band festival, will take place Oct. 1 in Music in the Castle, Bristol.
“We won Music in the Castle last year,” Cline said. “We came in first place in drum majorette, guard and second percussion.”
“We usually do three big competitions and perform every football game,” Vogel said.
“[The theme} changes ev-ery year," Coppock said. “We will do ‘Mission: Space’ until November and then perform as a concert band until the next season starts in July.”
The band this year has 150 members, about 20 or 30 more than last year, Cline, said.
“The biggest section is incoming freshmen,” Vogel said.
“Normally, a small class comes in, then a big one and that repeats about every year,” Coppock said.
Freshmen who want to join the band audition at the end of April and then work during the summer to prepare for the new season, Cline said.
HVA Band members elect the drum majors, Vogel said.
“It means they hold us ac-countable and they trust us to lead them,” Vogel said. “We make sure everyone has what they need for rehearsals and competitions.
“We conduct the band for all performances and pep times,” Vogel said. Family and friends of band members had an opportunity to hear and see what they have learned during camp when the band performed at school Saturday, July 23.
