For this year’s halftime show, the 105-member DHS “Pride of the South” Marching Band will perform the Music of Green Day.
Band Director Mark Nichols said the band students suggested the music to him and Assistant Band Director Stephanie Robertson.
“It had never occurred to me that this music group’s music could translate into great marching band music,” Nichols said. “After listening to some sample recordings of their songs, we were sold to play this music for this year’s show.”
This year’s show will include full band performances of the songs “Bang Bang,” “Good Riddance,” “Holiday” and “Still Breathing.” Nichols said the percussion will be featured during the performances of “Know Your Enemy” and “Espionage.”
The band will be led by new Drum Major Immanuella Montalvo.
“I’m very excited, a little bit nervous but excited,” she said.
The full band attended band camp on July 22-26, but for the band rookies, or new members, band camp started a week earlier.
“That is getting all the new people prepared to be with the older people,” Montalvo said about rookie camp. “We have rookie camp to teach them what left face is, what forward march is, what backwards march is so whenever they get to band camp, they’ll be able to keep up with the older members.”
She said she believes the band will have a great season this year.
“We have some pretty good rookies this year,” she said.
Once the rookies learned the basics, the full band learned both the music and movements of the halftime show.
“(We are) basically starting off at basic block and letting them get warmed up so that whenever we’re going set to set, it’s easier for them to do all the moves they have to do,” Montalvo said, describing the process of learning the show movements. “We go set by set. We just set (each movement), then we go back to the old, then back to the new set… then back to the beginning.”
She said the band repeats this process, while also adding recordings of the music and then performing the music while marching.
Nichols said the band learns all the music and the movements during the week of band camp.
“We have had a few practices before camp; however, most of the music is learned within the one-week camp,” Nichols said. “Students who did not listen to Green Day were like myself and skeptical of the music. Once we learned to play it well by the end of the first day, they were all sold on the wonderful harmonies and overall sound that we are making.”
Montalvo said this year’s halftime performaces will be fun, and she hopes audiences enjoy the show.
“I hope they enjoy it,” she said. “We have some marked times where we’re thinking of some dances they’re going to do, so that’s going to be fun.”
“I believe listeners of this music will be wonderfully happy in our presentation and all others will really enjoy the amazing sound of our ‘Pride of the South,’” Nichols said.