From football half-time shows to 18-hour competition days, The Griffin Pride Marching Band has strived to entertain audience members since September, but now they’re preparing for their final performance. The group will perform their show “All Eyes on Me” competitively for the last time at the Nebraska Band Masters Association State Marching Festival this Saturday.
“It’s definitely a little nerve-wracking,” Percussion Captain, senior Michael Ayala said. “It always is. I’m very excited, and I’m really hoping that everyone does their best regardless of what happens.”
This week, the band rehearsed with their usual schedule on Tuesday and Thursday nights alongside rehearsals on Monday and Friday mornings. However, with their biggest competition of the year approaching, the band decided to have an extra rehearsal on Friday night.
“It’s a lot of tedious things to make us from good to great,” Drum Major, senior Miranda Menousek said. “Like the music or the marching or the marching standpoint to make all of those little things good.”
Their competition show, designed by director Graham Leavell, has already garnered them high rankings from competition judges in each competition they have attended this season.
“The concept of the show is stage fright, essentially,” Leavell said. “The first movement is all about that tension. The second movement is kind of confronting that and getting over it and pushing through it. And then the third movement is all of that I’ve pushed through now. Instead of all eyes on me being a terrifying statement, it’s an empowering statement.”
Despite a show based on the anxiety of stage fright, the marching band has continued practicing in the face of pressure as a second-year program.
“It’s been exponential growth,” Menousek said. “I definitely think when we get everybody on the same page and they have good leadership, it really helps the band.”
Menousek credits the shift from having only three grade levels worth of members last season to having all four grade levels now as one reason they have seen the success they have so far.
“It’s made us a stronger group,” she said. “We have all of those different classes, we have so many different people, which makes us more diverse than last year.”
Some of that diversity in musicians and guard members has come from the new class of freshmen who had to get used to more demanding expectations.
“It feels weird but it’s fun,” freshman Sydney Hottovy said. “You get pushed a lot more, but it was definitely worth it.”
So far, the Griffin Pride Marching Band has earned multiple preliminary first placements in the 3A division and high-ranking final performance placements at multiple competitions.
“This year could have been really hard,” Leavell said. “We’ve just had a lot of success.”
In addition to their cumulative rankings, the band has managed to take home multiple caption awards throughout the season. One such caption was earned at their previous competition, the Omaha Marching Invitational, on Oct. 19 for Best Color Guard over reigning state champion, Millard West High School.
“The average guard is around 20 to 30, we only have 11 performers on the color guard,” Color Guard Captain, senior Will Seim said. “I was stunned; it was not something I expected. It was an astounding feeling of success.”
However, the band not only won Best Color Guard, they also won the caption for Best Percussion over Millard West at the Bellevue East Band Competiton on Oct. 5.
“It was definitely a goal this year,” Ayala said. “To have a second-year school get the best percussion was a really, really big deal.”
And while they have become quite decorated, winning isn’t their main focus.
“It’s a huge celebration,” Leavell said. “We don’t concern ourselves as much about the trophy we get at the end of it, as much the product we get from the audience, so we’re excited for that.”
The group will get their chance to impress their audience again at 5 p.m., Saturday at Millard South’s Buell Stadium as they compete against marching bands from across the state for their chance at the coveted State title. Admission to the competition is $11.63 for adults and $8.48 for students, including fees. Children five and under will receive free admission. Tickets can be purchased in advance at simpletix.com.
