Every year, a group of kids get together to form the school’s band. The students in the band get to play instruments and perform their music at sporting events, parades, and competitions. Mr. Kiyoi, who has been the director of the band for the past 12 years, has done a great job conducting the group and organizing events. But to dive deeper into this topic, students and faculty were asked a series of questions pertaining to the band.
According to students and staff, the official season begins in August, right around the time school starts. Then, they prepare a couple weeks before their first show. The band has around 70 kids, and they play instruments such as the flute, claratene, saxophone, trumpet, mellophone, baritone, tuba, and every kind of battery trumps, including snars, quads, and base drums. The season stretches from August to mid November. Right around October, the band begins to prepare for competitions. If they qualify for championships, then they perform all the way through November. 12 out of the 40 schools in the division are chosen to perform at championships to see who’s the best. On Tuesday, November 30th at 6:45 PM, San Marcos Highschool, as well as Santa Barbara Highschool and Dos Pueblos high school, are having an All City Marching Band/Guard performance, hosted at SBHS in Peabody Stadium.
To uncover more about the band, a student named Jesse Steele, a 9th grader at San Marcos High School, was asked a series of questions pertaining to the topic. Jesse spoke about how much he loves playing his instrument and spending time with his friends.
“It’s super fun,” Jesse stated, “I really enjoy the people there, everyone’s nice. I love playing the instrument, and just being part of something.”
Jesse also expressed his interest in playing the Baritone. He elaborated on how it’s somewhat challenging to play, but it’s still really fun and enjoys playing it. In addition, the freshman informed us that recently, they have been performing their music at football games. But pretty soon, they are going to perform at competitions, and if they do well they will go to championships. Last but not least, Jesse mentioned that performing in a Band is absolutely something he would want to do when he’s older.
“Definitely!!” Jesse exclaimed, “Especially to be a part of more advanced ensembles. That’s something I would love to do.”
After talking to the youngster, I wanted to talk to a veteran, a senior at San Marcos highschool. This veteran I talked to was Wendy E. Benitez Jaramillo, a clarinet player at San Marcos highschool. I asked Wendy just some general facts about the band. But specifically, I wanted to know exactly what the band does. Wendy explained that the band does a lot of things.
“We practice and play our music, like we do on the field. We also have to learn our movements to the drill and we have to make sure to stay in time with the drum major so that we are all together. There are a lot of things that we have to do all at once. It is quite challenging but very fun.” Wendy also talked about how much she really enjoys the band.
“I love the band because it’s super fun and you’re doing something that is very difficult, but as I’ve already said, it challenges us and makes us have to work together at something that is very awesome.”
Lastly, the Senior was asked about how they prepare for competitions.
“We practice our music, and then the band director sees if we’ve been performing well and if we’re good to go. We also prepare our bodies physically by marching and running around the school. Push ups, situps, stuff like that.”
After that, I decided to interview Mr. Kiyoi, the director of the band. Mr Kiyoi was asked about what the band does.
“Obviously, we perform at football games and do the pep dance stuff, but the main objective is to compete, just like a sports team would. We have a series of competitions coming up, our first one is this Saturday. We compete to qualify for championships. Basically, out of the 40 bands in our division, the top 12 are chosen to perform at championships. And from there, who knows what happens. But what we’re trying to do here is to compete with other schools and play our hearts out.”
Consequently, I wanted to find out some high points and some low points. When asked about his favorite moments so far, freshman Jesse Steele elaborated on how much he enjoys Monday night rehearsals. He talked about how he loves spending time with his friends and fellow colleagues who were mentors to him.
“The hardest part,” Jesse described, “was when we were first starting off, since we hadn’t done it in a while because of the whole pandemic and all. Most of us hadn’t done it for over a year so most of us had to get back into it. Especially me, who’s in the middle of my first year of highschool. I think all of us had to step up our game so that we could overall do better.”
The band is a long standing tradition that adds to the performance of our cheerleaders and athletes. Senior Victoria Leyva talks about how the band helps out cheer.
“Band and cheer are very tight. We always communicate over new band dances, and for rallies too. They are very supportive of us as we are to them. Without them there would be no hype at games!”
Cam Lugo, senior football player at San Marcos High School, explained the feeling of when the band conducts their music after a great play, “It hypes the team up and gives them more energy.”
The band is an annual tradition where students get together and perform their music at sporting events, parades, and competitions. It’s a great way for students to spend their freetime and give their heart and soul every day. Thank you to Mr. Kioyoi and all of our participants in Band that take time out of their day to perform at our games and add to the high school experience.
