It’s all about ‘Avian,’ a re-uniting, for BHS Marching Band’s 2022 program
“Avian is anything that relates to birds; the show this year is about birds,” assistant band director James Wilson said, as 150 performers — led by Wilson and long-time director Megan Christian — wrapped up two weeks of hard work during band camp with their annual “End of Band Camp Celebration” Saturday, July 30.
It was culminated by performing Avian for parents and other band enthusiasts at Bill Young Field.
“They’ve done five 12-hour days this week,” Christian said July 30 while praising their hard work. “The week before that they did 9-to-5 days.
“They’ve accomplished so much in what they’ve been able to learn and work together to create,” she added.
Avian, drum majors, schedule
As for Avian, “We start with introducing different birds, then a storm comes in and kind of blows them all away,” Wilson said about the program.
“And then they spend the last half of the show trying to find one another and come back together as a flock,” he added. “And then, at the end, they celebrate being back together and having found their family again.”
Head drum major, senior Jackson Schriver, “is a very good leader,” Christian said. “And we also have (drum majors) Bryan Utomo (senior) and Mustafa Arkawazi (junior).”
As for competitions and performances in addition to Friday evenings (along with one Saturday and one Thursday evening) during football season, “We’re super-excited to be traveling this year,” Christian said.
“We’ll be traveling to three different competitions — one of which is local and two are further away,” she added.
Following a competition at Karns High School, “we’re going to be going to Kentucky to play at Corbin High School,” Christian said.
“And then we’re going to be traveling to The Contest of Champions this year” at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
In short, “The kids are great,” Christian said. “The kids really believe in building a team, and if they don’t make each other better, who will?
“You gotta build a team.”
The BHS band gets its first chance to perform in uniform, as the Bulldogs football team hosts Knoxville West starting at 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 20.
