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Pirate band takes second at state
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| The Pirate Marching Band takes the field during halftime at a recent home football game. The band, under the direction of Del Brickley and field leadership of Justin Schroeder, took runner-up honors at the nov. 26 Class 2A State Marching Band Championship. Photo by Tom Munds |
By Tom Munds
Englewood High School missed winning the Class 2A state marching band championship by three-tenths of a point, marking the first state runner-up honors in Pirates band history.
In the finals, Delta won the state championship with a total score of 61.15. Englewood was second with a score of 60.85, almost six points better than third-place Fort Lupton.
“Our band did an excellent job in the semifinals and again in the final,” said Del Brickley, EHS instrumental music director. “We did the music very well and won the trophy for the best musical performance. It’s nice to win that trophy but it would have been nice to have won the state championship.”
Englewood’s band had 53 members this year, the smallest in the 10 years Brickley has been the director.
He said a smaller band is easier is some ways. For example, it is easier to get everyone on the same page when it comes to the marching and musical performances. But the sound is less from a smaller band, so the challenge is to maintain high quality musical and marching performances to offset the sound advantage of larger bands.
One difference was this year was the band was directed by a field captain instead of a drum major. That meant, the field captain Justin Schroeder, in addition to directing the band, is an instrumentalist, playing the lead for the trombone section.
“I actually like being field captain because most of the musicians in the trombone section are new this year, I got to help them learn the music and I feel I can help us be an awesome section by playing with them,” he said. “As a field captain, it is a challenge to balance the demand to watch and worry about every thing the band is doing plus focus on playing the trombone well.”
Schroeder played the solo in the performance finale, “Malaguena.” He said it was different because usually the soloist is on the field but, in this case, he is on the podium and is the focus of attention.
He said the band got off to a slow start but has picked up the pace and he was confident going into the state competition.
This year’s performance was titled Latin Fire. As the name indicates, all the music had a Latin flavor. The featured finale number was the classic “Malaguena” and it was done in an arrangement created by big band director, Stan Kenton.
Almost half the band members are seniors but there are also 14 freshmen, including tuba player Jacob Jolly.
“I was in elementary school when I saw the tuba for the first time — I saw the big shiny instrument laying on the floor. I liked the way it looked and wanted to play it,” he said at the final warmup practice before state. “I found I liked it. It’s sort of heavy and hard to handle sometimes but it is fun to play because you get out there on the field and make the crowd go wild.”
The state meet was held at ThunderDome Stadium in Pueblo on Oct. 26. The semifinals were held in the morning with the top four bands advancing to the finals. After the Oct. 26 semifinals, Englewood was in second place behind Delta by six-tenths of a point.
In the finals, Delta won the state championship with a total score of 61.15. Englewood was second with a score of 60.85, almost six points better than third-place Fort Lupton.
“Our band did an excellent job in the semifinals and again in the final,” said Del Brickley, EHS instrumental music director. “We did the music very well and won the trophy for the best musical performance. It’s nice to win that trophy but it would have been nice to have won the state championship.”
Englewood’s band had 53 members this year, the smallest in the 10 years Brickley has been the director.
He said a smaller band is easier is some ways. For example, it is easier to get everyone on the same page when it comes to the marching and musical performances. But the sound is less from a smaller band, so the challenge is to maintain high quality musical and marching performances to offset the sound advantage of larger bands.
One difference was this year was the band was directed by a field captain instead of a drum major. That meant, the field captain Justin Schroeder, in addition to directing the band, is an instrumentalist, playing the lead for the trombone section.
“I actually like being field captain because most of the musicians in the trombone section are new this year, I got to help them learn the music and I feel I can help us be an awesome section by playing with them,” he said. “As a field captain, it is a challenge to balance the demand to watch and worry about every thing the band is doing plus focus on playing the trombone well.”
Schroeder played the solo in the performance finale, “Malaguena.” He said it was different because usually the soloist is on the field but, in this case, he is on the podium and is the focus of attention.
He said the band got off to a slow start but has picked up the pace and he was confident going into the state competition.
This year’s performance was titled Latin Fire. As the name indicates, all the music had a Latin flavor. The featured finale number was the classic “Malaguena” and it was done in an arrangement created by big band director, Stan Kenton.
Almost half the band members are seniors but there are also 14 freshmen, including tuba player Jacob Jolly.
“I was in elementary school when I saw the tuba for the first time — I saw the big shiny instrument laying on the floor. I liked the way it looked and wanted to play it,” he said at the final warmup practice before state. “I found I liked it. It’s sort of heavy and hard to handle sometimes but it is fun to play because you get out there on the field and make the crowd go wild.”
The state meet was held at ThunderDome Stadium in Pueblo on Oct. 26. The semifinals were held in the morning with the top four bands advancing to the finals. After the Oct. 26 semifinals, Englewood was in second place behind Delta by six-tenths of a point.
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