As you watch the Northbrook Raider Band perform, have you ever wondered what they do to prepare for all these different types of performances you might have seen? Without seeing the sweaty, hot, and long practices and rehearsals, you might think it’s effortless and doesn’t require much practice, but it’s actually quite the opposite. Here’s why.
The Northbrook Raider Band kicks off the season with band camp, which begins in early July and finishes in August, the day before school starts. They practice persistently every weekday from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., perfecting the fundamentals of marching and playing music together. For warm-ups, the Raider Band starts off each early morning with a few exercises to stretch. This consists of exercises like push-ups, toe-touches, lunges, etc. After finishing, they head straight into the “Raider Mile,” which is simply just sprinting a mile around the school campus.
Under the scorching sun, the band begins learning marching fundamentals, instructed by Marc Ward, the band director of the Northbrook Raider Band. As the band grasps the concept of marching, drum majors, Ashley Gonzalez and Jairo Sorto, assist students by giving them a better understanding of strategies to enhance their performance and skill. After a long period of time outdoors, they head inside to practice music, specifically stand tunes and show music. They are required to memorize everything they play during marching season, making rehearsal more challenging than usual.
As this summer routine comes to a finish and the new school year starts, they begin after-school practices every day of the week (besides game days), starting at 3:25 P.M. and ending at 5:45 P.M. During this time, the band learns drill and choreography for their new show and practices pep tunes for football games, pep rallies, etc. They practice every day outdoors in the Texas heat, but practice indoors as well. During school hours, the band is divided into 3 different class periods. In the course of this time, they rehearse show music and pep tunes, learn choreography, study professional-level bands, and practice All-Region music. It’s routinely different everyday, but Mr. Ward does this to focus and prepare for what’s most important at the moment. Typically, the band runs through their performance with the Northbrook Lady Bandoleras the day before football games (or on game days after school), either in the parking lot where the band normally practices, or on the football field if available. Each week, they are required to learn a new song from memory to perform with the Bandoleras before performing their show at football games.
In connection with football games, most band members look forward to them every week. Game days differ, depending on Thursdays or Fridays. Preparing for football games, they start off by running through their minor performance with the Bandoleras, then head straight into rehearsing their show on the football field. After finishing, they prepare food, load instruments and props onto the truck, get dressed in their uniforms, listen to instructions, and make sure they have everything they need before hopping onto the bus. As they arrive at the game, the loading crew prepares instruments for members to set up and move to the bleachers. When the game ends, everyone leaves their instruments for the loading crew to reload onto the truck. After a quick count of all members, they head home to Northbrook High School. When they arrive, they get to the worst part of football games, fully unloading. Everyone dreads this part of football games, and most can agree this is their least favorite part due to how tiring and stressful it is, but still, this doesn’t stop everyone from having a great night.
Furthermore, the band also attends a competition over the weekend. The process of this is more stressful than you might think. Students are given a report time early in the morning to prepare for their competition and get everything in order without being behind schedule. After getting everything loaded onto trucks, the band heads to their designated location and gets ready for their performance. This process starts with getting fully dressed in uniform on the bus, setting up instruments, walking for a long period of time in the heat in full uniform to the warm-up area (also outside), warming up on instruments and tuning, a quick run-through of the show music, and then heading straight to the stadium to perform. The band only has a short period of time to set up speakers, microphones, front ensemble instruments, and props. When they’ve finished performing and have taken everything off the field in a rush, the loading crew reloads all instruments in the boiling heat, and the band heads to the bus to undress uniforms. Everyone is sweaty and hot, ready to go home after a long day. The UIL process looks very similar to this.
The band spends most of their time outside in the excruciating Texas heat, all suffering under the boiling sun, but you might wonder, why? Why do they overwork themselves? Why do they put so much effort into the band? As you ask band members these types of questions, it’s a straightforward answer from most, “Because it’s all worth it.” Aside from all the painful practices and preparation to perform to their best ability, everyone has fun. Between the music, the memories, and the friendships, being part of the band family is an experience you’ll never forget.
