Carson High marching band tunes up for new year

At least there was a little cloud covering to keep Carson High School’s Blue Thunder students on the cooler side Thursday as they practiced their drills.

Director Nick Jacques encouraged them to enjoy the subtle breezes while they lasted during band camp between Aug. 5 and 9. They also paused to take frequent water breaks in between making music and perfecting their moves before the school year starts Aug. 19.

Students were stepping not on their home field but on the district’s Bordewich Bray Elementary School, which allowed the band to use its facilities and field while Carson High finishes construction work before school starts.

Color Guard Captain Amnesty Spraggins, a junior, said she enjoys the positive environment at band camp, even as temperatures reach the high 90s. Getting ready for the season’s football games and hearing the community support at halftime during their performances spurs her on in her performances.

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Blue Thunder Band Camp 2024

Carson High School’s Blue Thunder Marching Band held band camp between Aug. 5 and 9, 2024. Photos by Jessica Garcia of the Nevada Appeal.

“I feel really happy and excited, and I get a nice tan going on,” she said. “But it’s such a huge part of our rehearsal hours. We get a lot done. Even though we’re all out here in the heat, we build a positive environment.”

Last year’s show, “Blue Thunder,” had been custom-made for Carson’s band by California State University, Fresno professor and composer Gary Gilroy. Jacques said the band won three of its five competitions and captured one second place and a third place, the last of which was out of nine bands in California.

“We were still incredibly successful, and we’re taking our momentum and moving forward by making a couple of adjustments,” he said.

This year’s program is all about the dreaming. Jacques chose composer Randall Standridge’s “Imaginarium,” an expressive work with several major sections exploring creativity and possibility. Scores convey thematic imagery of a “Cloud Factory” and monsters. Jacques is returning to Standridge after 2022 when the Blue Thunder took first place in the AA Band Division championship at the Galena Performance of Champions field show tournament with its “Along Came a Spider” program.

“We go through different styles of music to represent several dreams,” Jacques said. “The first dream is that you’re on an adventure. The second theme will invoke flying and clouds. The third dream is you’re in a land with monsters, then shake and awake, but then not really because you go back to the first dream of being on a positive adventure because you’ve gotten away from the monsters.”

That energy and sound can appeal to students, judges and audiences who enjoy different genres or like to experiment with compositional variations. Blue Thunder’s assistant drum major and high brass section leader Chase Boholst, a junior, was a little unsure of the “Imaginarium” score at first but now embraces it.

“Personally, I feel (brass) is the heart and soul of our sound … there’s a lot of things we can do soundwise; we can be very expressive but we can also be very intense, and I like that variety,” he said. “I think (the score) has a lot of potential and lot of variety to it.”

Boholst also is involved in Carson High’s choir program and plans to attend the University of Nevada, Reno when he graduates. He plans to major in music education and complete his master’s degree in conducting.

For Jacques this summer, one change was learning how to write a custom show. He received help from his staff to choreograph the music to the drills and marry the two sides of music and drilling together in a cohesive design. It has improved his own performance as a teacher and band instructor.

“The process of storyboarding and putting the music to what it would seem like in a shape was interesting at first because I don’t think of music that way naturally,” he said.

And keeping a competitive edge with the music selection is one of the more challenging parts of his job as a band leader, he said.

“It has to be competitive from a judge’s standpoint and it also has to be appealing and enjoyable for our home crowd and also has to be appealing and enjoyable for the community at large,” he said.

Brielle Caron, a freshman and pit member, took part in band camp for the first time.

“He’s very kind-spoken and has our band program in mind all the time and is making sure we’re the best we can be,” Caron said.

She also will participate in Wild Horse’s “Willy Wonka” production this fall to grow her theatrical interests.

“It’s really cool being in an advanced group of players because it helps me grow so I can watch and see how they’re doing. It’s nice to be with peers who want to do this actually and are not being forced to do it but are choosing to do it and really want to do this.”

Osiris Estrada Ledesma, a junior drum major, said she is excited to be a part of the band’s leadership. She worked to prove she was capable of the position since she will help keep the band’s timing and organization intact.

“I like being a part of band because I have my own community, and whenever something’s going on outside of band, I know I can always count on the people here and I have a group with me, no matter what,” she said. “I think it’s awesome that we’re just a giant group of nerds basically that are able to share a giant passion.”

Estrada Ledesma said she hopes to become a kindergarten teacher after graduation.

Jacques said the band will hold its usual fundraising activities, including its Chili Bingo Night, this year to help with traveling expenses. The Blue Thunder has been invited to take part in the Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 28 in Chicago for which most students will need financial aid to attend.

For information, follow its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/carsonbands.