Director Michael McHenry
The 2023 marching season has officially started. The Pride of Calhoun County is busy rehearsing Our 2023 show “Rise of The Phoenix”. The music is based on Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and was chosen by a popular vote of our current students. The show will feature three movements, Infernal dance – A bold opening statement of the theme, Ashes – the slower legato ballad, and Firebird Finale – the return to the theme strong finish.
This show is also rather thematic or symbolic for the current state of our band program. 2023 marks a pivotal change in the band program by which we just lost a large and influential senior class. The program is experiencing a rebirth of sorts as ALL of our student leaders are new, most of our performers are in middle school. However, despite having such a young band, I must say we have a very motivated and talented group. This show follows on the heels of a Superior rating earned by these middle school students last April. When it comes to musical ability, these students punch up!
Each year we set goals, using feedback from judges it’s clear where improvements can be made. This year, marching is our focus. The show is shorter, the content less demanding than in years past but the marching is very demanding. The students will demonstrate a greater degree of control over the music which will allow everyone to focus more on near constant movement.
We have 20 playing members, 4 color guard, 2 feature twirlers and of course Felicity Marks has stepped up to lead the band as our field commander. Felicity has just completed a weeklong program for field commanders, we hope to add a little flair in our conductor’s style.
All round, the 2023 season is shaping up very nicely! Hopefully we get a few cooler cloudy days during camp. The band will be showing off a sneak peek of our show at 6pm August 4th for parents and family. We do hope to make a more official premiere in Gilmer County when Calhoun faces off against Gilmer next month!
