GHS halftime show built on sounds of the ‘80s
They’ve been out in the sweltering summer sun for weeks, doing heavy lifting and taking part in repetitive drills.
That could be the Bobcats practicing for the upcoming football season, but it’s actually what members of the Gilmer High School (GHS) Marching Band have been doing to prepare for this season’s halftime program.
The high school marching band and head director, David Wiebers, have been busy with camp the past two weeks as the band nears its first performance of the season at a Friday, Aug. 6, scrimmage game against Fannin County.
“I think the biggest misconception about band is that it’s easy. When (kids) realize how much work, effort and detail go into it, they get surprised and maybe say, ‘Oh man, what do we do?’ But they enjoy it,” said Wiebers.
“Once we go into the regular season, they practice anywhere from 7-8 hours a week. We perform at all 10 football games, and we’ve got two major contests coming up,” the band director added.
For this year’s show, the young musicians will travel back in time to before they were born. At least musically they will.
The 105-member marching band will perform a program of ‘80s music assembled under the theme of the Netflix sci-fi series, Stranger Things.
“Our show is called ‘The Upside Down.’ It’s a reference to Stranger Things, which takes place in the ‘80s,” Wiebers said.
The full halftime program will feature renditions of “Shout,” by Tears For Fears; “True Colors,” by Cindy Lauper; “Take On Me,” by A-ha; and “We Built This City On Rock n Roll,” by Starship. It kicks off with the Phil Collins mega-hit, “In the Air Tonight.”
“It’s something both the kids and their parents are excited about. I think it’s going to be fun and really entertaining,” Wiebers said about the totally ‘80s halftime show. “As the weeks go on, we’ll keep adding more and more of the show at each football game.”
Several of the teenage students are familiar with the material from it appearing in movies and on their parents’ playlists, Wiebers noted.
“I think they recognize a lot of it, but maybe they just didn’t know who sang (some of the songs),” he said.
Return to form
Last year’s marching band season was shortened due to COVID-19, but the band did get to have a socially-distanced version of summer camp followed by limited live performances, said Wiebers, whose first year as GHS Band Director was 2020.
“If there’s one area of the program that got hit by COVID, it was our performances,” he added. “Normally, we do about 45 performances a year, but we got down to about 15 last year. We did maybe three away games.”
Preparation and design for the next year’s halftime show usually starts as early as October, Wiebers noted.
“We assess what worked and what didn’t work (in the season), then meet with our composer and arranger and tell them some of our ideas. That meeting usually happens in January,” he explained. “In February, we start meeting with our drill writer, who maps out how to feature the kids. By May, we typically have an idea of what the opener is going to look and sound like so we can start purchasing props if we need to and get uniforms and flags picked out for the color guard.”
Band camp is where the puzzle is pieced together for the first time. “That’s where we are now,” Wiebers said last week. “We bring in community musicians and teachers to work with our kids, and we actually have some GHS alumni who are teaching some of the sections right now. They’ll work with them, and with their music and visuals. The idea is to hopefully have the opener completed by our first preview night.”
A lot of hard work
Dakota Brown, a GHS senior and the marching band’s center podium drum major, said it definitely takes a lot of hard work to develop the halftime show, but his colleagues are up to the challenge.
“The dedication these kids put into the band is truly priceless, and I think it’s going to pay off really well,” he added. “With everyone putting in so much time and effort, I think we can take this show and grow even more than we have in the past year.”
Jennifer Wright, president of the GHS Band Boosters, said the marching band plans to travel to Orlando, Fla., during next year’s spring break. That trip will provide an opportunity for band members to march in a Disney parade and receive instruction from Disney musicians.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for some of these kids,” Wright said.
Since last year was also light on fundraising opportunities, additional fundraising will need to be done to fund the trip, she noted.
“We’re going to do a community yard sale. We don’t have a lot of specifics on that yet, but we’re looking at October. The band also does Apple Festival parking as a fundraiser,” Wright said.
School band concerts have become somewhat of a family pastime for Wright and her kids. Her son, Nathanial McClure, is a GHS sousaphone player, and she also has two other children currently in middle school band. She wants the public to know how much preparation and commitment is needed to create the 10-minute halftime program.
“It’s a lot, and it’s all to give the fans a good show. (My son) has been out there toting that sousaphone around in the heat, but he isn’t complaining one bit. He’s loving every minute of it,” Wright said.
Brown, who’s been in band since eighth grade, said he’s never seen a more dedicated group of high-schoolers than this year’s marching band.
“In my past four years, nobody’s ever been this excited about coming back to band, especially after the global pandemic. Everybody’s just ready for things to go back to normal. I feel like, with all the work people are putting into the program and the help we’re getting from parent volunteers, it’s going to be a really good season” he added.