The Churchill County High School Marching Band participates in the 2023 Greenwave Homecoming parade.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
One of the many extracurriculars is the Churchill County High School Marching Band directed by Scott Parker.
Not only is Parker the band director but he’s also the drill designer, drum and brass coach. With nearly three decades of directing along with his experience from different renowned organizations such as Disney, Woody Herman, and Franky Capp, he has conducted and directed Churchill County’s marching band through many band competitions, parades and concerts.
The band competed in November at the Sierra Band Crusades at the University of Nevada, Reno. This competition brought an end to Churchill County’s marching season. Throughout this season they attended four competitions including the UNR competition through hours of practice and determination.
On top of class time, the band members would meet every Monday from 5:30-8 p.m. after school to practice, and with temperatures dropping every week, it became more and more difficult to practice.
Theresa Mitchell, a freshman flute player, said it’s stressful to balance marching band and school work. Dallin West, who is a drum major, said that there would be times of distraction and how it could often spark some temper and arguments. Despite all this, they pushed on and practiced. Running and rerunning songs to achieve “excellence” is how Parker put it. After the hours of practice, the musicians would take all they learned and put on the fields in different competitions.
Corin Cartwright, a trombone section leader, said “Marching bands are the friendliest competitions out there.” She said she loves attending the competition and seeing other bands perform, meeting others who also share her interest and understanding the hard work it takes to put on a show.
In this last competition, the band members said they performed their best show with great naturality and flow that gave them third place. Although they are sad that the season has come to an end, they are all proud of the progress that they have made and will love to continue in marching band and encourage anyone to join them.
Isaiah Gapith is writing for the Lahontan Valley News as part of Churchill County High School’s school-to-career program.