The Edgewood Marching Mustangs winning the 2022 state finals
By: Caitlyn Bayne
A Little about the Show
On Nov 5, 2022, the high school and 8th grade marching band won the 2022 State Finals with the amazing show called Break Free. The show was directed and prepared by the high school band teacher, Aaron Wells, and the Junior High's band teacher, Curt Koehler. The show was to be seen as if you are stuck in a cage and breaking out of it, kind of like how the girl does in the real show.
Some of the Details of the Show
The show took a long time to put together and for it to really come to life, but it really did turn out amazing. The marchers that are on the field have to do this very elaborate sort of dance where they all have to move in the same way together for it to look very good. The show also had these very tall long, what look like cardboard, tubes that are very light so if there were even the smallest amount of wind the poles would want to knock over. But in the show, the poles worked as intented. The color guard pulled long white cloth out of the tubes to blend in with the long pink one that one of the main color guards ran with at the last minute of the show.
What Led up to the State Finals
Edgewood won gold ranking for almost all of the competitions leading up to state and semi state because of our great music and the best overall look and design of the whole show. At semi state, they performed for the last time before state to see if they would make the top ten to move on to state. At state whichever team won had to drink milk from the one and only Buttercup, the state cow that is at state every year. From us winning, the main color guard person, the teachers, and also the drum majors that keep track of the beat in the show had to drink the milk and from the looks on their faces, it looked like the milk was very warm and not the best tasting.
The State Competitoin Details
The state competition was very scary and nerve-racking for everyone there. The crowd was so large that it filled up half of the stadium just to hold all of the different parents and other band lovers who came there to see who would win. Everyone was watching as all of the different schools went on before theirs and them all thinking that theirs was the best.
The judges were sitting there. As they watched they took notes to really see who was the best band of the year. Ours was the second to last band to perform, so their performance would stick in the judges' heads as they consulted to each other about all of the bands that were there. After all of the shows were done, the crowd awaited for the places to be released. One by one that schools were getting rolled out, all of the Edgewood fans shaking in their seats. It came down to the first runner up and Edgewood. Would we win? As the man said the first runner up everyone started to cross their fingers and pray that they were going to win. “The first runner up is…” As he announced it all of the Edgewood fans started cheering and clapping with happiness and excitement because they did not call out Edgewood which made us the 2022 state champions with the remarkable show “Break Free.”
A Little Bit about the Kids
From us winning, it shows how amazing all of the students are for taking time out of their life to practice a show over and over again so that they can win but also have fun along the way. There are a lot of different kids in marching band that all have a great taste in music, like Connor Bayne. He is a high schooler in 9th grade that plays the vibraphone but can also play the drums. Or like Ben Welch, who is the only 7th grader in the marching band and plays the drums. But they are only 2 out of the whole band and every kid has a different story and a different life history. There are over 100 students just at Edgewood that are in the wonderful marching band. The whole show was overall very good and a way that Edgewood showed their confidence of winning and also to make them look embarrassing, All the boys at Edgewood had to put glitter in their hair. Marching band might not be for you but for all of these other amazing kids and adults that participate and even just help will always have it in their hearts. Also i would like to say a big thank you to all of the hard working band moms that helped out with the costumes and sets or even just rode on the buses with the kids. They have helped so much with this show to make it the best state finals show yet.
Contributor Bio:
Caitlyn Bayne is a 11 year old girl in 6th grade who loves to write articles and sleep in her free time. Even though she loves to write articles she also loves to do art. She plays the trumpet in a brass band with her friends Abby Jenkins and Blaire Barlow. Also some of her friends are Adrianna Minnick, Emma Bristoe, Dorothy Hamilton, tori burks and with the coolest 7th grader grey Molica.