Port Huron Northern Band gets all Ones

News
By James King
Husky Herald Reporter

  “Port Huron Northern band with a rating of ...uno,” said the announcer.  After five months of hard work and practice, the Port Huron Northern Band’s effort has finally payed off .

  It all started the first day of band camp where almost 200 freshmen, sophomores, juniors  and seniors came together to start learning drills for the 2015 halftime show directed by Erick Senkmajer.

  This year the band decided to attempt something they have never tried before; some kids were skeptical “because it was a different kind of show and I didn't know how it would turn out in the end” said James Eppley (‘18).  Instead of just a halftime show, the band would be performing a play revolving around the story of Maria (played by Madeline Godwin, Meghan Wilton, and Elise Edie alternatively) and Diego (played by James King).

  The show consists of three songs: Estancia, Diego’s Goodbye, and El Tango de Roxanne.  The first song, Estancia, shows Diego’s first victorious bull fight.

  Diego enters the arena, which is created through a formation made by the rest of the band, He waves his cape in the wind and with saber in hand, he fights and defeats the tuba section, which is posing as “the bull.”

  The second song, Diego's Goodbye shows Diego and Maria’s reuniting after the bullfight. Despite various partner dances throughout the rest of the band depicting their love, Diego says goodbye to Maria before his next bullfight.

  The final song of the show, El Tango De Roxanne, shows Diego’s  final bullfight against the biggest, baddest bull in all of Barcelona. He goes into the fight with arrogance and he underestimates this new contestant, which is depicted through drumline formations

   As he starts to stab at the bull, it fights back, knocking him down. In a daze, he gets up and starts fighting back harder than he has fought before.

   Diego gives his all,until the bull strikes him down. While he lays on the ground defenseless, the bull goes in for the final kill, but Maria fulfills her dream of being a bullfighter and kills the bull.

  She helps  Diego up, and they have a final dance, concluding the show.

  “I think the audience really enjoyed watching us put a story into the field” Olivia Bolt (‘18), a band member, said.

  The show was performed in under fifteen minutes in front of three judges for a score of one, two, three, or four, with one being the highest. After their performance was done at the Marching Band festival,, the band members waited anxiously for the other bands to finish to hear their score.

  “We are going to get a one” said Logan Radatz (‘17). Radatz was correct in his assumption, and Port Huron Northern Bands received the score of a one at the 2015 Marching Band festival.