Past the auditorium, down the music hallway, and in through two sets of double doors, there is a classroom consistently filled with the sound of students plucking, tuning, and playing musical instruments. Room 1740 holds an office, a storage room, and the main classroom where the band and orchestra rehearse.
Taught by Michael Woods, the CKHS band class plays concerts, in a marching band, and in a pep band. In the beginning of the school year, during football and basketball season, students of all grades can play in the pep band, whose goal is to excite the fans and keep the energy high.
“We’re playing more popular music, music that you’d hear on your streaming device,” Woods said. “Usually kids have a lot more fun playing that stuff, although not always the most musically intricate stuff.”
The band played at the first football game of the season on Sept. 12, where Senior Drum Major Lexie Durban conducted their songs.
“It’s really exciting,” Durban said. “It’s also pretty scary. Today was the first time that I stood up in front of a crowd as big as this one to conduct the band. And, overall, I think it went pretty well. We had some bumps along the way, just because it’s some people’s first game.”
As the first game took place only a week-and-a-half into the school year, Woods held a “band camp” for students to come in, learn music, and get organized before the first day of school.
“This year’s band camp was pretty subdued,” Woods said. “It was mostly upperclassmen just coming in to get organized. We try not to do too much stuff in the month of August if we can avoid it, just because everyone’s still on their family vacations and things. So, we just get together and remember how to play our instruments.”
On game day, the band arrives at the school at 5:30, where they put on their uniforms, tune their instruments, and warm up together in the back courtyard.
“Then around 6:30 we’ll launch up to the field, get situated in the stands, and play for 20 minutes or so before the game starts,” Woods said. “We’ll play throughout the game, especially at halftime, we get (the) third quarter (as a) break to go and get something to drink, play the fourth quarter, celebrate, and then hopefully come back to the classroom and call it a night.”
The full routine of playing music at a football game can be overwhelming for any student, but especially for first year band members, such as Freshman Edie Kavanaugh.
“It’s hard,” Kavanaugh said. “You don’t know any music, you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know where to go, you don’t know what to do, and you very much look up to seniors.”
The band plays snippets of many different tunes, including the CKHS fight song, “Fireball” by Pitbull, and “Louie Louie” by The Kingsman. To communicate to the band what song they are playing next through the loud stands, the senior drum major uses different hand motions that indicate each song, such as punching a fist for the fight song, flashing out their fingers for “Fireball,” and two “L’s” for “Louie Louie.”
“For pep band, music eventually becomes easier to learn for the kids that are coming back year after year after year,” Woods said. “So, in the band I know there is a core group of seniors, (who have) played the music for three or four years. And the freshmen, they fake it for a while, and then they slowly learn it as we go.”
Other than the noise and the unfamiliarity, there is another challenge for the CKHS band: the weather. Performing during Washington’s fall and winter, the band has to battle with the rain and cold, which both can negatively affect their instruments. Water is bad for the instruments themselves, and the cold can knock instruments out of tune.
“We try not to take the nice instruments outside, and you just do the best you can,” Woods said. “Hopefully it’s not too cold.”
Not only does the cold affect the instruments, but it also affects the musicians. It can be hard to play instruments that require dexterous finger movements when it gets too cold. The band students have a variety of strategies to deal with the cold and continue playing.
“Layers, lots of layers,” Durban said. “We coach freshmen. We’re like ‘hey, wear fuzzy socks, maybe double layer your pants. Make sure you’re wearing pajama bottoms underneath your bibs.’ People will bring gloves, sometimes people will bring handwarmers. We got to power through. If the football team is playing in the rain, we’re playing in the rain too.”
Despite the weather, the band continues working to keep the energy up in the stands.
“I love the music I’m playing, I enjoy playing,” Kavanaugh said. “I remember when my older sister was playing, and this has always been something I love.”
With the first game of the season over, football and basketball fans can expect to see the band performing at future games.
“Hopefully people come out,” Woods said. “If they want to sing along with us, sing along with us. We’re all having a good time. Just come to games, they’re fun. Win or lose, the fans have a good time.”
