EAST SURRY BANDS

PILOT MOUNTAIN, NC - The East Surry High School “Cardinal Flight” Marching Band recently completed their busy 2025 season.  Each year the band begins preparing their field show weeks before the start of the school year.  At that time, students learn the music, choreography, and the basics of how to march and play instruments at the same time.  Then, they put that together with the drill, which is the formations made on the field.  Drill and music are added throughout the year until the show is complete.  This year the band’s show increased in difficulty. 

The Cardinal Flight Marching Band’s 2025 field show was titled Rise: Fire from Within.  Musical selections include Symphony Number 40 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky, and “My Shot” from the Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda.

In addition to performing at local football games and parades, the band travels to competitions where they compete against other high school marching bands.  Bands are divided into classes based on the number of members and judged in the areas of music, marching, general effect (how the whole show works together), percussion, drum major, and color guard.  Based on the scores in each of these categories, overall awards for each class are determined.  Grand Champion awards are given to the band earning the highest score in larger groupings of classes. 

The East Surry Marching Band performed at three competitions this year where they were judged in six captions listed above.  East Surry placed 1st or 2nd Overall in their class at all three competitions and placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in a combined 17 out of 18 possible captions.

The next event for the East Surry Band is their Winter Concert.  You are invited to hear the band perform on Tuesday, December 9th at 7:00 PM in the Pilot Mountain Middle School Gym.  There is no charge for admission.