Marching band: No longer just a breakfast food

By: Aimee Jack

Well, the 1999 marching band season has drawn to a close and, let me say, what a successful season it was. The last update made by the esteemed Kristen Schulze, cymbalist extraordinaire, was made midway through the season, so let me give you the "rest of the story." After the home competition at E.L. at which the band cut through E.L. like a knife through "butta," the band trekked down to the surreal field at Wells. Competing at Wells was an experience in itself because the field is so small, surrounded by woods, and the audience and judges are so close you can hear the judges muttering into their tape recorders comments (hopefully good) about the band. After capturing first place at Wells, we headed off to South Portland where, because of the rain, we competed in their auditorium. At this point, I believe that the heavens opened up and the angels smiled upon us, because LHS has always known to be a fantastic indoor band. At South Portland, we crammed ourselves onto their stage and proceeded to sweep all of the awards available.

The next competition after South Portland was the mother of all competitions: States. Naturally, we were ecstatic about driving up to UMO to compete on their Astroturf field in front of thousands of people. We boarded the buses the morning of October 29th after being serenaded by Mr. MacKenzie, a bagpiper, and we drove up to Orono. As our performance time approached, we changed into our uniforms and headed off to the field.

The minutes we stepped onto the field, we knew exactly what we had to do: march and play like we had never played before. Piece of cake right? The performance was truly an experience I will never forget. After the last strains of the third movement died away and the audience leapt to its feet, I found myself thinking, "I wonder if anything can ever compare to this?" We marched off the field; smiles stretched across our faces like slinkies across a room, and waited for the awards ceremony to begin.

Now there are many ways to torture people. You can stretch them out, throw rotten fruit at them, even gouge their eyes out with spoons, but there is nothing more painful than standing at attention, not being able to move, while your school has just been named state champion. It's true, my friends, LHS home of the devils, known, wrongfully, throughout the state as a "bad place to be," triumphed at the M.B.D.A. marching band state competitions.

After the awards ceremony, we got back on the bus, after large amounts of merrymaking, and headed home to show our school what we had done. I am proud to say that everyone, faculty and students, have treated the band with great respect, taking time out of their schedules to watch our show. In fact, the entire city seems to have rallied behind this cause, writing articles in the paper, inviting us to concerts, and congratulating us. The band looks forward to a great concert band and trip to Florida. Thanks again!