The Spirit of McIntosh is the school marching band and is overlooked by many in the school’s social scene. Whenever the band plays at a football game most of the student section goes straight to concessions instead of watching them play.
The only place the band’s trophies are displayed is tucked away in the band hallway. Between all the practices and competitions they have barely enough time for their own activities, let alone publicity and it’s unlikely any of the other sports teams do their own. Many in the marching band will say they would like to be in more media within the school, because the band is rarely talked about if at all.
“The only time I felt like something has been said about us is when we won the competition last year like nothing else happened, that’s the only time we’ve been represented,” Jack Layton (10), 3rd year marching and 1st year marching tenor drum, said.
It truly takes so much for the band to do what they are great at, I see from my sister and friends who are in the marching band be tired from school, social interactions, and clubs but still show up to the next practice. Even if the band doesn’t get the amount of support they need they still show up to practice almost every school night, just for the student body to overlook all the hard work they do for a good show.
“I wish we had some more support from the student body, I just don’t think they know what we do,” Cheyenne Riddell, assistant band director, said.
The diversity of the marchers in the band is truly amazing, there are all types of people of different ages and groups, the differences between the people in there might cause a step in the right direction for the band to get more representation.
“I think it’s definitely moving in a more positive direction, mostly with all of the different types of Marchers we have. We have people that are interested in so many different things, and it’s truly amazing,” Riddell said.
The student body may not see the amazing work the marching band does for all that they do, but there are suggestions from the people in the marching band for ways to fix this.
“I think we could be in the personal school news or something like that,” Evan Harris (9), 1st year marching the trombone in the band, said.
The football team gets talked about a lot and that is because of the publicity they receive, so it’s no wonder when the marching band isn’t well known about, they aren’t talked about even though they are at every football game entertaining the crowd with music they worked diligently on memorizing. One way to improve would be to talk about the competitions like how the football games are.
“I think being told about our competitions in the same way the football team is told about their games would be a good way to be heard of,” Jack Layton (10), 3rd year marching and 1st year marching tenor drum, said.
For all the work that is put into the marching band they deserve to be heard of by everyone, not just the people who are in the band or know someone who is, one of the largest supporters are the administration who try to make that happen.
“Our administration team is super supportive. They always include us. They always think of us. They always make sure that we feel that support,” Riddell, assistant band director, said.
For all the work the band puts in for a good show they are overlooked when the marching band is truly the spirit of McIntosh.
“The marching band puts so much effort and time into our shows, but no one pays attention or gives us the recognition we deserve. Many of the other sports are heavily recognized and get so much attention even for losing or scoring badly. The band never gets anything even though we hype up the football teams and give entertainment when nothing else is going on,” Lilah Holland (12), 4th year playing the flute in the band, stated.
So next Friday night when the band plays at halftime, stick around for the band because they worked hard for that show and want you to see it.
