The ISSMA marching band finals brought a bittersweet ending for many area members.
Not because of rank or the size of the trophy they took home; many called it the best performance all year. No, because it meant an end to many high school band members' careers.
“I'm torn to stop, but at the same time, I want to pass that down,” said Laura Shafer, senior drum major at Snider. Like many of her fellow soon-to-be graduates, Shafer was sad to see this time end but was happy to see how well the bands performed.
“(The fact) my senior year ended this way is incredible,” said Quinn Brenneke, senior drum major from Homestead. Homestead took home fourth place in Class A at Saturday's competition.
It took months of work for the 40 teams in four different classes, based on school size, to make it to the state finals at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“(It takes) hundreds and hundreds of hours of practice, tremendously dedicated students who put their lives on hold,” said Kevin Klee, Snider band director, “and - don't tell anyone - but a lot of luck.”
Snider took eighth place in Class A.
Earlier in the day, the smaller-class bands performed their state-quality shows.
“Everyone has the goal of getting here,” said Norwell band director Doug Hassell.
Bands must make it through district, regionals and semistate to get to this point. “We just wanted to get here and have a great performance.”
Norwell scored the best of all the area bands by taking third in Class C.
Following in the same class were Heritage and Concordia Lutheran, who took sixth and eighth, respectively.
“It went great,” Heritage band director Kevin Christenson said after the afternoon performance. “It was the best performance this year by far.”
Heritage's “Learning To Fly” program brought cloud backdrops that made the flags float and sent the trumpets soaring while band members performed.
“I think we had one of the best performances,” said Travis Bartlett, junior drum major.
Concordia Lutheran's band finished out the local performances in Class C with its program titled “Noah - The Journey of Faith.”
“It was just so fun … just looking up and seeing all the people,” said Hannah Horstmeyer, a junior guard member.
Woodlan was the only local band to perform in Class D, which represents the smallest schools in the competition.
The band's performance, titled “Waking Kokopelli,” used the music “Tribal Elements” with a painted desert backdrop created by parent Patricia Herndon.
“She did them last year,” band director Bob Slattery said. “We may have topped last year this year.”
Bringing home seventh place this year, the director called this the toughest competition that the band has seen yet.
“It's (just) about making it here,” said senior drum major Jordan Sheely.
