Finally something in 2020 has gone right.
Weather for this week’s Mahomet-Seymour Marching Band camp has been blessed with mid-to-upper 70’s temperatures and the blue skies have been dotted with puffy white clouds.
Two weeks ago band director Michael Stevens didn’t even know if band camp or any semblance of marching band would be able to move forward in the fall of 2020.
By early summer all 2020 marching band competitions throughout the state of Illinois had been canceled. Out-of-state Bands of America, which is traditionally the last competition the Marching Bulldogs compete in each year, was also canceled.
But Stevens and Assistant Phil Meyer knew that there was still work to be done.
“I think it’s important that the program continues to move forward even if it’s a very small amount,” Stevens said. “We’ve got a big freshman class coming in. I don’t want them to not have any experience whatsoever. Then your older kids, your seniors, you don’t want to completely not do anything, so we decided to come up with a scaled back marching band experience.”
This year’s “An American in Paris” (Pandemic Edition) will be a preview to the full 2021-22 George Gershin-themed show.
There has already been a reduction in the number of students participating in band. Stevens estimates about 190 students this year.
No one knows exactly what the upcoming school year will actually hold, but Stevens said that he and Meyer are focused on keeping students engaged and on a learning path, whether they are at school or in-person.
While the kinks of what in-person and synchronous learning will look like in the music department are being worked out, Stevens said that the district was able to purchase a SmartMusic subscription at a discount to track student progress and challenge students when they are not at school.
The annual ILMEA auditions in October have already moved to a virtual platform. Stevens said that there isn’t any indication quite yet whether an ensemble or just recognition will come from auditions.
The teachers are also thinking about the impact of not having fifth grade students learn an instrument during the school year will have on their music education and the future of the Marching Bulldogs.
But what the 2020-21 Bulldogs can focus on is fundamentals of the first two-and-a-half minutes of the show. Stevens hopes that at some point parents will be able to see the full group together in performance.
“There’s so many things up in the air and no one ever has an answer that’s definite and I understand why but it just makes planning difficult,” Stevens said.
The Tuesday through Friday band camp brought groups of woodwinds, brass and percussion together to learn their music and charts in a socially-distanced way.
After camp, students will continue to practice in small groups during the after school hours until the show comes together.
Stevens still has his fingers crossed in hopes of something that resembles normal in 2021.
“I’m hoping that second semester jazz band will be a go,” he said. “And we’ll be able to do our competitions. But I’m a realist, too, and know that the odds aren’t good.”
There has also been talk about what the marching band’s role during football season, which is now Feb. 15 through May 1, will be. Stevens said more than likely the group will be more of a pep band.
“No matter what we do, whether it’s in concert band or jazz band or whatever, I want the kids to be good at what they do, I want them to have to work hard to get there,” Stevens said.
“It may not be the same amount of hours, it may not be the same stress level, but we’re going to learn the music, we’re going to learn it well. When we teach them the small amounts of what we are doing, we’re going to do it well.”
