From practicing in temperatures in the hundreds, to brainstorming ways to best keep instruments out of the snow, marching band takes up a large portion of the fall for some students. The season began in August, with the pre-school year ‘training’ camp, and ended with a hometown show on October 30th. The band worked hard, and it clearly paid off.

Over the last weekend of October, the marching band traveled to Pullman, Washington, to compete against other bands in the region with their show, “Postcards from New York.” The band took third in the A-division. Performing with music, marching, colorguard, and front ensemble, a lot was put into a 10 minute marching show, and the Raptor marching band showed up and performed an incredible show. 

When asked about the season, band director Jeffery Ruffcorn said, “The students gave it their all, performed well, and continued the success that we achieved the previous two years.”

The marching band practiced every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from four to six, and had a week-long summer camp before school to prepare for competition. However, students had to put in effort outside of school to learn music and other aspects of the performance. To practice for competition, the band performed excerpts of their full show at home football games. They also went to a showcase at Montana State University for an exhibition performance and to receive commentary from professionals ahead of competition. 

All of the effort of the students in the marching band came to a peak in competition. While the season may be over and there might not be students marching around a field now, the lessons learned and the experiences last far longer than a few months.