Marching Band Prelims: How it went

If you didn’t already know, I am a part of the Marching Band at Oak Park High School. Our season comes to a peak when we compete at preliminaries, which dictates if we make it to championships. All our hard work is tested as judges give our performance a numerical score. How did last Saturday’s prelims go?

Before leaving the school

I arrived at the band room at 9:15 am, mistaking my call time for that of the pit/guard (who had to come earlier). I spent my time talking with varying members of the marching band.

One of the low brass section leaders emerged from the director’s office. He approached me and gave me a list of directions to share with the other members of leadership. I spent my remaining time informing leadership, and leadership informed their teams. I am the flute section leader, so I informed the three other flutes as well.

At 9:45 the director left his office and debriefed the marching band in all his directions.

• Do not put on uniforms, we will change into them later
• Get instruments onto the bus
• Check with your sections they have all parts of their uniform

The bus ride and before the performance

Once we did all of those things, we all lined up outside the bus, in front of the band room. One student was missing, looking for something. We all waited for him to get his things, before getting impatient. Seniors boarded the bus. Juniors. Sophomores. Freshmen. The boy we all waited on was in the low brass section, so the low brass leaders got on last, cause they had to look for the boy. There wasn’t room on the bus to sit alone, so one of the low brass section leaders was seated with me. We talked for a bit.

Arriving on campus, we all went to get food from concessions. I packed a sandwich. We then ate in the stands together. All of Oak Park grouped together, so I got to talk about the performances with my friends. One of the songs was very familiar. At the end of said performance, it turns out their closing song was a part of our last year’s show, Firebird.

3:00 pm was the break, and I messaged the band via Remind “Prop people, come set up!” as the director wanted them to set up early.

The entire band came over, but turns out a majority of them were there for the snacks.



Announcement history for context.

After the break, we all went back, watched some shows, and then returned to the bus. The bus was teeming with marchers at 4:30 pm, the time the director told us to be back by.

Prep for the performance

We all got uniforms on and instruments together and got pit off of the U-Haul. We all ran through the show, ran through warm-ups, exercises, and more. The director sent us off to our sections to do whatever we needed to do. This was potentially my last competition. I told my section:

“No matter what results we get, I am incredibly proud of our performance and each of you for giving it your all. Good luck everyone.”

We all bonded a little over some out-of-pocket discussions, and I tried to be sentimental. To be honest, this year, I am the least emotional I have ever been for marching band. I love it, I do. But it’s similar to an old friend of mine. I’m not sad it’s going to be gone or going to end. I’m grateful it has happened, and it was a step in my life. I love all of my friends, the music, the events. I will continue to for as long as I walk this earth. But I’m not sentimental, or reflective. Prelims could’ve been the last one, and I would be grateful for the chance we had for championships.

We marched over and blew warm air into our instruments to keep them tuned, and to keep them warm. I rolled my prop alongside the assistant drum major. Getting on the field, we all anxiously anticipated the performance.

I haven’t been anxious for a public performance for years, prelims being no different. Marching band, to me, is puffing up your chest, taking a deep breath, and carrying your stride with confidence. The sound, the step, and the visuals need to be uniform, and there’s no such thing as insecurely confident. Keep it simple, as my father would say.

Someone asked me if they could sit down. We were on the field. Waiting to set. We had five minutes before going on. Guard was holding large amounts of heavy equipment. 12 people were holding props. The individual in question wanted to sit for no medical or health reasons. I told them “No. We go on in 5. Sit if you’re unwell, but we are to stand.” We had 3 hours to sit before the performance. I say all this because I know other members were not locked in and focused on the performance, which I believe is what prevented us from taking it to the next level (to a degree.) I don’t feel bothered by it, as I know there are more who are doing their best, and I focus on my performance only.

The performance

We walked on, warmed up, and got to our spots. It’s been a week, and the performance was blurry. I recall my calves and feet burning, but telling myself “C’mon Priya, let’s do this. Maximum effort.”

Movement one was out of tune, and the judge’s tapes dictated we weren’t together for a lot of it. Movement two was hellish, but the judges liked the woodwinds. Movement three was not as “pedestrian” as it typically is, though it still needs to be more “marching band.” Movement four was great, the dance went fine. The only thing is that we “don’t look like we are having fun,” according to our director. We smile now, though I’m not sure if that affects how the judge sees us, given they are so high up. Movement five was out of time, but went relatively well, especially given our fatigue.

Awards Ceremony

We got out of uniforms on the bus. A couple of students were unwell. Trumpet Section Leader and Marching Captain [name redacted] had food poisoning, the senior saxophonist was ill, and a few students also had colds, so they were exhausted.

After putting pit away, we walked to the “Oak Park seating” section as a group. We didn’t get much time to get concessions, but my mother brought me an overpriced cheeseburger (thank you Mom!)

The moment of truth

Our division took some time to get to during awards. We all waited in anticipation. The bitterness of the cold had us shivering, and we huddled together as we pulled up our phones to record when our score was announced. “And at third(?) place in the 2A division with a score of 75.9, Oak Park Eagle Brigade!”

We started screaming of joy. Our score has improved by quite a few points. I was happy we won something, and generally in a good mood. This wasn’t a certainty that we would get to championships, but we were excited nonetheless.

At the very end, they announced what schools would go to champs. By the skin of our boots, we were 12th and qualified. We celebrated 20x more intensely than any school at that event. Screaming, bouncing, yelling, hugging, and other celebratory acts were in store.

How close was it? We got in by 0.05 points. Quite literally, the skin of our boots. It was closer than the timers on bombs in Mission Impossible movies.

The rest of the night

I spent the bus ride tormenting my poor seatmate with conversation and singing to the music the guys in the back put on. At the school, we put the pit away and returned home. I crashed.

Final thoughts

Ahh. One of my last marching band blog posts. Finally, my dear readers will hear of something different. Thank you for entertaining these updates throughout the season. Thank you to the director/staff for running this amazing program and making it all possible. Thank you to my family for putting up/helping me with the intense schedule. Thank you to my friends for making it worth it. Wish me luck tomorrow, for I am going to champs and a marching band competition, for the very last time.

Thank you for reading!