Mahomet-Seymour Marching Band to perform “The Twilight Zone”

The Mahomet-Seymour Marching Band is ready to enter another dimension. 

A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind into a wondrous land of imagination, between reality and fantasy, beyond which is known to man. The 160 members of the Mahomet-Seymour Marching Band are ready to enter the Twilight Zone…and will bring the Mahomet-Seymour community with them through the 2022 competition season. 

It’s a departure from the reality of “An American in Paris,” a Gershwin-themed show, that ran for two consecutive years as the program rebounded from COVID-19 mitigations.

“I wanted to find something extremely different and contrasting to produce this year,” Band Director Michael Stevens said. “After discussing ideas with the marching band creative team, we came up with the theme of “The Twilight Zone”. The music within the show is from Leonard Bernstein and Bernard Herman and includes “On the Waterfront, Scene d’Amore, and On Dangerous Ground.”

For older generations, the “Twilight Zone” door from the original series will be recognizable, as will a large clock with melting hands to compliment the color guard costumes and props. Isaac Hanson (saxophone), Gabe Difanis (trumpet), and Roman DiGirolamo (trombone) will also perform solos in the three-song performance.

Stevens brought his band together for band camp the first week of August. Although the heat and rain were factors throughout the week, Stevens said, “we worked around those obstacles as best we could and tried to accomplish as much as possible.”

“The focus this year was to instill a solid understanding of the marching band basics, memorize a minimum of the first three minutes of music,  and learn around 20 sets of drill. We accomplished all three,” he added.

Those focuses come as marching bands across the country try to deal with learning loss from a restructuring of education during the pandemic. 

“We are still recovering from the COVID issues,” Stevens said. “It set us back greatly both at the high school and junior high. As you can imagine, having some kids not playing their instrument in person for over a year is not something a program can easily overcome. I am so pleased that the vast majority stuck it out. But it will take several more years to recover.”

Still, the Bulldogs will kick off their October competition season at Mt. Zion. They will go on to Effingham, perform at the University of Illinois before they head to the Bands of America competition in St. Louis.

Bringing home accolades is important, but Stevens also knows that every year his job is to help students grow.

“The competitions are exciting and memorable but the path and growth to get there is what makes a band outstanding,” he said.