The Niles Star

Niles High School students getting up to speed on new show

The Niles High School marching band rehearses at the high school football stadium Tuesday night. The band will debut its show, featuring the music of "Wicked," at next Friday's home football game. (Daily Star photo/AARON MUELLER)

By AARON MUELLER

Niles Daily Star

For Caroline Elsner, one thing that stands out about this year’s Niles High School marching band show.

“The speed. It’s very fast,” the junior horn player said of the show, featuring songs from the musical “Wicked.”

If any of her fellow band members hadn’t picked up on that right away, they sure did Tuesday night working through the drill formations and fast-paced music.

At one point a staff member had to stop the rehearsal to tell the group the importance of knowing and executing the formations, otherwise, with the speed of the movements, someone could get hurt. With quick changes of direction and horn movements, it’s easy for the musicians to run into one another or trip one another.

“There’s some really good marching, but we’re still working on it,” said junior trombone player Daniel Gillis. “I have no doubt we’ll get it.”

The band, fresh off of receiving a No. 1 rating at the District 6 Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Marching Festival last season, is looking to duplicate and improve on that success.

“They have a real strong work ethic,” said band director Steve Gruver of his 107-member group. “They have a good sense of teamwork and positive attitudes.”

The band will debut its show at next Friday’s home football game and will host the district marching festival in October. Throw in the two-week-long band camp at the beginning of August, the Blossom Time parade, Apple Festival parade, three football home games and weekly rehearsals, and the group stays busy.

“It takes a lot of work,” Gillis said. “You’ll see some bands out there, and they make it look really easy. But it’s actually really hard to make it all come together.”

The band was going to host the Niles Marching Invitational this month, but cuts in schools’ travel budgets forced the school to cancel it.

Elsner feels the speed of the marching and the music in this year’s show is only matched by the group’s quickness to learn it.

“We learn things fast, but we need to stay focused and we can get anything done, because we have a really good group this year,” she said.