Trojan Marching Band Dominates State Festival
Members of the marching band perform for the home crowd at a home football game in October. The Band had an outstanding State Festival and exemplified KW’s “Trojan Perfect” motto.
After months of practice the Kelly Walsh marching band performed at the State Marching Band Festival Saturday, October 17th earning some prestigious awards. Their hit performance of “Fusion” was a combination of three Cirque De Soleil shows including, “Distorted” from the La Nouba Show and “Journey of Man” and “Incantation” from the Quidam show. The judges were blown away and the Trojans left the festival with a Superior rating and received four out of six possible captions, more than anybody else in the state. They earned a drum major caption, a brass caption, and a general effect caption. They also were the only band in the state to receive the woodwind caption.
“A caption is a form of recognition for doing really well in a certain area,” said Jared Carlson, a senior trumpet player for the Kelly Walsh Band.
On average, the Trojan band rehearsed eleven hours a week to prepare for their state production.
“It always feels great to do well when you’ve worked so hard for so long on one thing. Even though we didn’t technically win because it’s a festival, the performance was great and I think we represented Kelly Walsh well,” said Lia Kopp an assistant drum major for the Trojans.
After waiting all day, the band performed late Saturday evening.
“Being the last band to perform, we were getting energy from the entire crowd, from all the other bands watching, and within our own band. The energy surged through us, and it helped make the performance one of our best,” said Richelle Dietz, a co-section leader for the flute and piccolo section of the band.
This is not the last we will be hearing from the Trojan band; they will continue to pep fans up for the upcoming Trojan basketball season.
“Up next is pep band! Pep band is the little songs we played at quarter for football. We will be continuing this at basketball games playing everyone’s favorite songs including some recent hits. We will go anywhere to cheer on our Trojans,” said Hailey Martin a co-drum captain.
After a successful day of marching, the Kelly Walsh band left with a sense of pride and accomplishment for their school. They plan to continue to grow as a band and they will begin to practice for their concert band, which will have concerts throughout the year.
