By: Zozan Kucukaydin
Long before the HHS Marching Band struts down Chocolate Ave for the annual Halloween Parade, hours of preparation have occurred.
On October 20th, 2015, the side of the streets were filled with children, parents, and teens all waiting to get some candy and watch the show that was yet to come. For years, the HHS Marching Band has been participating in the parade, with each member dressing up in Halloween costumes. Many have seen what happens during the parade; the flute section, the percussion, the color guard, etc. all line up and march down the street while playing music they have all been practicing for. The band spends quite a while getting ready for this event.
Around June and July, the band starts to learn their music pieces. From then on, they practice for their shows. According to color guard Elizabeth Olivia, the band gets together at school over the summer to practice. “We call it band camp,” she said. In addition to practicing, the marching band decides what they want to dress up as for the Halloween parade.
Each section dresses up in a certain theme, and they all have a contest the night of the parade, to see which costumes are better. Every single one of the sections goes up to the front of the band room, introduces who they are, and something about themselves. The band teacher decides who wins. The best boy, the best girl, and the best dressed section all get chosen. Although there is no reward, Olivia said she was very happy to win the ‘best girl costume’. Nick Graham, dressed as a still soldier toy, won the ‘best boy costume’.
Flute section member Emily Nothnagle knew her preparations in advance. The flute section was dressed as the disney princesses, with the exception of one prince. All the flute players decided their character based on their preferences or because of the prince/princesses’ appearances. “Before showing up to the school for the costume contest,” Nothnagle said, “the whole flute section came over to my house and we got ready together.” Nothnagle was Merida, from the movie Brave. Merida was chosen because of her curly and red, hair, which is similar to Nothnagle’s.
Bethany Zipperick, another member of the color guard, dressed as Cary Germinder, a singer and songwriter from the 80’s. She stated that Olivia had thought of the idea of an 80’s musicians theme over the summer in band camp. “We all just followed up on that”. Zipperick stated that she didn’t really know anyone else from the 80’s, so she got her mom to help her decide who to be. “I like who I chose to be. She’s simple, and she just sings. It’s just good music,” Zipperick said. She stated that she had gone to Salvation Army and found a skirt and a blouse to wear, and that was it. Simple.
Color guard member Sarah Fox dressed as Alex Cooper. Wearing a leather jacket, all black clothes, and dark eye makeup, she said she decided to dress as him because she had just seen him in concert last summer. Although it was all last minute, Sarah was proud of her outfit for the night. “I looked up a picture of his eye makeup, and imitated it in the bathroom of the high school,” she said.
The band practiced and tuned their instruments before walking over to their starting spot. They lined up, and at 7:00 PM, the streets were filled with music and candy. Children were excited to see who would pass them in the parade, and what show they would put on.
One by one, section by section, the marching band passed the line of children, playing their horns, and waving their flags. Almost everybody at the parade was intrigued by the music, and was satisfied by the whole show.
