Indoor Marching Band Classic

Even though marching band is over now, on Monday it wasn’t over. Monday was the last time we marched our show. It was sad to know it was the last time we would get to perform the show because I really enjoyed it. Nevertheless, Monday was still a really fun day.

We had to rehearse at the U.S. Cellular Center at around 1 o’clock which means I didn’t have to go to 5th or 6th hour which was really nice. We have to rehearse the show because we must condense it. We are marching inside on the floor of the U.S. Cellular Center which is not as big as a football field, so there are specific parts of the show we have to change. So after 4th hour I hopped in the car with my friends and we rode downtown to rehearse. We rehearsed for about 2 hours and then we were dismissed to go home, only to come back to school at 5 o’clock. At this time we had to change into our uniforms and put our instruments together because unlike most performances, we weren’t changing at the location of the performance. This was not a competition, but it was a performance. The show is called the Indoor Marching Band Classic. All the bands from the CR Community School District and the Marion School District come to perform. Even though it is not a scored competition it is still important because the show is broadcast on local television for the rest of the year, all the way up until the next Indoor Marching Band Classic is tapped. This is what motivates us to give a good last show.

Another cool thing about the night is that after all the high school bands perform we get to watch the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band. Every year a different marching band comes. My freshmen year the UNI marching band came and my sophomore year the ISU marching band came. Out of the three performances I’ve seen the Iowa Marching Band was definitely my favorite. They don’t actually march a show for us, but they do play really good music. They can’t march anything because the U.S. Cellular Center is not the size of a full football field and their band is very large. Not only does the marching band come but the Iowa Hawkeye Dance team and the Iowa Hawkeye cheerleaders come too. It was fun to see them perform. After this it is a tradition for all the high schools to stand and play a song with the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band. We rehearse it earlier in the day before the show starts so it usually sounds pretty good. After this we get back on the buses and head back to the school to unload. It is always a fun night every year but it is a school night as well, and we don’t get back until about 10:30, which makes it a late night.