When most people hear “marching band”, they think about the rush of a Friday night game, under the stadium lights. The reality, though, is that behind the shiny instruments and spiffy uniforms, there is an incredible amount of discipline and hard work that each student has to display.

Drum major Bella Hofmeister, a junior at San Marcos, says, “This year our show music is a good amount more difficult than last year. It has lots of difficult runs for the woodwinds and difficult rhythms for the whole band. It’s especially difficult considering the amount of new people we got.”

The show this year is called El Camino Royale and consists of four parts, the opener, the ballad, the percussion feature, and the closer. “Our show’s music and visuals are amazing! I love the show’s theme. I’m very excited to see us perform at competitions and show all of our hard work…Overall, I’m really proud of the marching band and guard. They work very hard and are accomplishing so much. I am very excited to start our competition season.” said Hoffmeister.

The marching band and guard have played for 4 football games so far, and started competitions on Saturday, October 12th. They will compete in roughly four competitions, as well as the Championships and all city performance.

You can see them perform at halftime during the game against Hueneme on October 18th, and they will be playing for the band showcase, which will feature all three bands!  To further support the band, make sure to come to their games, and purchase snacks from the upper concession stand during games to make donations.