Ah, summer vacation. A great time to kick back, relax, enjoy some quality time with family and friends. You know –memorize some music, march a few parades, rehearse. The usual.

Oh. Well I suppose that isn’t exactly the average definition of “usual”…

While those last few items may not have been on everyone’s to-do list this summer, they were certainly every Marching Knight’s top priority. Like a host of East Noble’s other extracurricular groups, we too have been hard at work these past months, strengthening our claim to a successful season. Our season, however, actually had its start long before summer vacation.

Shortly after our season concluded last year, Mr. Muñoz (our band director) and his staff began brainstorming, designing, and organizing our 2013 field show. This year, our show is entitled “Well Suited” and will revolve around the four suits of a deck: diamonds, spades, clubs, and hearts. So, if seeing how gems, a death march, Justin Timberlake, and Romeo and Juliet can be cleverly combined into an awesome show set to awesome music, I encourage you to come watch us perform at one of the various home football games or area competitions. We’d really appreciate it!

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Before we can even think about performing, we must bring our show to life and continually refine it throughout the rest of our year. This is why summer vacation is a pivotal time for marching bands across the nation; it grants us ample time to jumpstart our seasons. Just as the Marching Knights discovered this summer, it primarily starts with committing one’s music to memory. Next comes learning to march in time and then combining the two together –after all, being able to march and play at the same time exceptionally well is imperative to a marching band’s success. Add in the positions on the field (or coordinates) that one must also memorize and any final touches, and BAM! – you’ve got yourself a marching band show.

Since wrapping up band camp and some night rehearsals a few weeks ago, we’ve learned ¾ of our show and put in over 100 hours towards or season. In that time, we’ve learned 50 charts, memorized 3 movements of music, and are well on our way to meeting our goal of presenting our ENTIRE show on our first performance.

As we look forward to proudly representing our school in the near future, it’s amazing to look back and realize just how far we’ve come and just how far we’ve yet to go.

Best wishes to everyone for the coming school year!

Oh, and if you’d like to learn more about the band, check us out at www.eastnoblenoblebands.com!