By MEALAND RAGLAND-HUDGINS and BARTON HENLEY
Rutherford County Schools
The pace of high school marching band was something Blackman’s Jenna Lynn Andersen had to adjust to as a freshman.
“It’s a big jump. In middle school you play in the stands and you don’t travel, usually,” said Andersen, a sophomore trumpet player. “High school, it’s a whole different feel. It’s a lot of work, but it’s so much fun.”
Week after week, hundreds of band students in Rutherford County help set the game day atmosphere.
They lead cheers from the stands and deliver show-stopping halftime routines and the work they put in to make Friday nights unforgettable doesn’t go unnoticed.
Brenda Monson has been Blackman High’s band director since the school opened in 2000. The marching band, she said, has one purpose.
“We have a non-competitive football band. It is set up similar to a college marching band, where we exist to support the school and football team and not for band competitions,” Monson said, adding that the format gives students more time for other clubs and activities.
“We want students to have a well-rounded high school experience. Any sport or club that they want to be involved in, we support that. We’ve had football players in band, basketball players. JROTC is usually well-represented,” she noted.
Coaches, players ‘blessed’ by band support
For Stewarts Creek football coach Ben Caudill, the band is more than entertainment.
“Our band is the heartbeat of our team on Friday nights. Our drumline escorts our team into each home game,” he said, adding that Red Hawk fans are “never disappointed” by the halftime show.
Caudill said the band and football team embrace the “One Team” mantra the school adopted ahead of its 2013 opening.
“After each game, our entire team joins the band for the playing of our fight song which is led each week by one of our football players. Our team truly partners with our band to make it happen on Friday nights. The One Team spirit that our school aims to have is fully realized in our football team and band,” he said.
Riverdale’s Will Kriesky said having the band’s support heightens the game day experience for fans and athletes.
“The band is an integral component to a high school football atmosphere and it can add another dimension to the Friday night lights,” Kriesky said. “We are blessed here at Riverdale to have support from the band directors and their members.”
Oakland coach Kevin Creasy echoed similar sentiments.
“Our band is instrumental in helping OHS continue to have a great homefield advantage, pun intended. They fire our crowd up and help get our student section rowdy on Friday nights,” he said.
All eyes on Rockvale at halftime
With 120 members, Rockvale’s band has gone through some of the growing pains that come with being a young program while also being impacted by COVID.
Band director Alex Sears said in these early years, the emphasis has been on shaping a culture that is student led and student driven.
“We’ve done a good job of building systems and the culture and giving them ownership of the group,” he said. “We want to cultivate leaders and let them know they are capable.”
On Thursdays, the football team holds morning practice to allow the band to rehearse after school. And on Friday nights, opposing crowds see something in the Rockvale band that’s not found everywhere else — two football players and a cheerleader marching front and center.
Rockets wide receiver Nixon Richins plays trumpet, lineman Austin Carter plays mellophone while cheerleader Brynn Decker plays saxophone.
“It really feels like everyone’s watching you. Especially at away games, we’re wearing white so we stand out,” Carter said.
Sears said parents from other schools often comment on their children being told to choose between marching band and sports. He’s glad that’s not the case at Rockvale.
“Our principal (Steve Luker) says high school is the last chance kids get to try a little bit of everything and have certain experiences before they start to specialize and prepare for a career. We want them to have as many of those experiences as we can give them,” Sears added.
Rockvale’s “Supernatural” show includes “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry and “Believer” by Imagine Dragons.
“The kids always give us ideas about what we should play, but what we use those suggestions for more than anything is pep band,” Sears said. “We’ve kind of curated a Friday night playlist and that’s been a lot of fun.”
Small band creates big impact at Eagleville
It wasn’t long ago that Eagleville’s band had a dozen members. Watching the group grow is something parent Whitney Puckett has been thrilled to watch. Her daughter, Carson, joined the band in sixth grade as director Nick Thomas was starting his first year at the school.
“As a parent and booster, I have been so impressed with all the band program has done,” Puckett said. “Now starting year five for each of them, the marching band has 38 members.”
At Eagleville, students can begin marching as early as seventh grade. The school’s K-12 structure makes it manageable because students in bands for middle and high school are well integrated, Thomas said.
“I especially love this since it will allow my girls to be in marching band together since with their age difference, they never would have had that opportunity at any other school,” Puckett said.
“We have about 50 percent middle school and 50 percent high school,” the band director said. “They have two weeks of band camp in July. These days are long and hot, so anyone who makes it out will be successful during the season.”
Though sixth grade musicians don’t march, they are invited to sixth grade night have an opportunity to “get a taste of marching band and what it could be like next year,” Thomas said.
"The Lone Prairie" is the name of Eagleville’s western-themed show. Songs include the theme from The Magnificent Seven and “The Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.