Band marches home: Band season comes to an end after Band of America Grand Nationals
MARCHING TO STATE Playing the baritone Khusi Jhaveri, senior, practices her solo one last time before competing at state. After four years of practices and an intense season, Khusi’s band career would culminate at State and then Grand Nationals. “It starts with just me and honestly, that’s pretty nerve wracking because you’re playing for all these people,” Khusi said.
November 18, 2021
After completing their last performance of the season last Friday at Bands of America Grand Nationals at Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis, Band spent Saturday watching as the greatest bands from across the country performed. Now, many Marching Band members prepare for the concert season, spending the week training and trying out for chair placements.
“It was like an eye opening-experience,” Iris Gong, senior and flute soloist, said. “It was so interesting to see really good national quality bands, and just how clean they could be and powerful they sounded.”
Starting off with a strong season, Band competed in five regional competitions, defeating Concord High School for the first time in school history and making it to Semi-state. Once there, Band once again claimed victory, qualifying for ISSMA’s state championship for the tenth consecutive year. Throughout their history, Band has placed fourth place at the state level, but following a series of strong performances, many members held high hopes for this year’s competition.
“After so many hours of practice with the band, there’s just so much you put forward to try to create this amazing show with a lot of character,” Antonio Cantu, senior, said. “There’s a lot of people you know, and you really have to be the best if you actually want to make it to State. It’s not just about playing and performing and being a robot, it’s about really putting your heart into the theme and into the performance.”
Ultimately, Band earned seventh at State, marking an end for their ISSMA season.
“At the end of the day, you can’t define yourself by an individual score,” Khusi Jhaveri, senior, said. “This arbitrary number that this specific judge gave you on this specific date for one seven minutes show doesn’t define or encompass all of the hours of work and everything we put into this season. We very much tried our hardest to put our best show out there and at the end of the day, if you really put your foot out there that’s what matters. And I think that’s definitely something good to live by.”
