As the State High Marching Band’s season begins to wind down, the Marching Band held an indoor concert in the large auditorium on Tuesday, Oct 28.
They opened with the national anthem and went on to play the two halftime shows from this season, For Your Ears Only, a spy-themed performance, and The Dragon Show. They also played other songs, such as the classic Hey Baby, that were performed at football games during the season. There were also performances from the State High Silks and Majorettes.
From band camp beginning in July, through the end of the football season, over 220 State High musicians worked hard to provide incredible performances in 2025. Marching band is a huge time commitment, consisting of summer band camp, rehearsals and performing at all home and away football games. Junior Autumn Swisher described the preparation that happens before the official season starts.
“There are two weeks when everyone goes, and we start learning all the music, and we learn most of our two shows, most of the marching, and everything. So during the school year, we just do a lot of polishing. So, we do a lot of the work during the summer, and it’s really fun, because we … get to help everyone get to know each other,” Swisher said.
Head Drum Major Piper Curling, Assistant Drum Majors Anthony Shue and Lewis Gipe, and many rank leaders all played a major role in the band’s successful season. Shue, a senior, shared part of what goes into being an assistant Drum Major.
“My responsibilities are to make sure all of the rank leaders, who are the leaders of the individual groups of people in each section, know how to instruct people, so that they know exactly what drill they’re supposed to teach people. And I specifically make sure that everything’s running smoothly, and always be a backline that people can go to if they can help,” Shue said.
Freshman Maddie Lippincott is in her first year of marching band and shared what she considered to be the biggest challenge of the season.
“We have like six songs that we had to memorize. I think that’s probably the hardest part. But besides that, the whole like marching play thing is pretty easy,” Lippincott said.
Throughout the season, lots of fun memories were made. Marching band participants got to meet new people and learn lots of new music during the season. Shue described the feeling when the band was able to perfectly complete a difficult drill.
“I think one of my favorite memories was when we finally got it all completed and all slotted into position, and we really all felt like it was what we wanted it to be. And it was just exactly where we needed to be, and it was perfect,” Shue said.
Swisher shared some advice for students who are interested in joining the marching band next year.
“It’s really fun,” Swisher said. “There are really supportive people, so I would say if you’re at all interested, it’s a big organization. Everyone’s really welcome. I feel like they are, truly. So I’d say just go for it. It’s a really good experience, and you won’t regret it.”
