Since spring of this year, Mr. Hackworth, the band director at Charlottesville High School, has been working diligently with his staff to ensure that this year’s marching band show is the best yet. For most school programs, sports and clubs don’t begin until after the school year is underway, but the CHS Band has been preparing for this season since last April.
The first stage was creating the show and designing it, and then writing the music and the drill to march on the field. Students weren’t involved in this process, but over the summer they had an idea of the show concept and were eagerly anticipating the season ahead.
Band camp started at the end of July, a couple weeks before school started, where students reviewed marching and music fundamentals in the hot summer sun. After two weeks of full days of rehearsal, school started, which meant that the band started rehearsing in the mornings before school. They recently performed at two CHS home football games, with more performances coming up in the next few months.
This year’s marching band show is entitled “Uprising”, and is a story told through music, visual effects, and marching techniques. It features arrangements of several well known pieces of music from several genres, including alt/indie rock, pop, classical, and metal. The pieces used in the show are “Everything in its Right Place” by Radiohead, “Symphony No. 4” by Tchaicovsky, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears/Lorde, and “Welcome Home” by Coheed and Cambria. The story is one of a revolution, or uprising, starting with one Mellophone player (Davis Neagle) and eventually consuming the entire band. It is dramatic, inspiring, and unorthodox in the best ways possible.
Mr. Codey Logan, the band director at Charlottesville Middle School, wrote the show music for the wind instruments. He has also helped the marching band as part time staff for several years.
When KTR asked him for his side of the composition process, he said,“The marching staff began having meetings to brainstorm ideas for this year’s show back towards the beginning of 2025. A competitive marching band show is a large production which takes many people working together a long time to put together. After much deliberation we came up with the show theme and what songs we wanted to use. I was then given the task of writing all of the music for the wind instruments. The music I wrote then went through several revisions before it was ready to be performed.”
On the question of if he enjoyed the process, Logan said “I enjoy composing and arranging music very much. My favorite part of the process is getting the ideas in my head down on the page. I often times will have musical ideas flowing through my head, so seeing them on the page and later hearing them is rewarding.”
The show is approximately 7.5 minutes long and features student musicians and performers at CHS in an excellent showcase of skill and dedication. KTR interviewed Julia Crum and Shay Prickett, who are both seniors in their 4th year with the marching band. Shay is the Tenor Captain in the drumline, and Julia is the center drum major.
Both students were asked how they thought this year’s show compared with past years. Julia said, “I think that this one has the clearest vision, and the band is more prepared visually; the execution is better.”
Shay responded, “It’s much more inspired by professional drum corps shows than ones we have done in the past.”
He added, “[My favorite part of the show is] the last movement, because it has a slight drum feature in it, and is a lot faster than the other movements. It’s pretty Groovy.”
All this suggests the question, why do students do marching band in the first place? How does it impact people?
“Marching band is my favorite activity on Earth. It is where I found my place in high school, and I want to facilitate that for others as much as I can as an adult,” Logan said. “The passion and respect that is learned through putting together a show with dozens of your peers is priceless. Marching band is an important art.”
Shay Prickett said, “As a freshman, it gave me a very strong community that helped me get comfortable and adjusted to CHS even before school activities had begun.”
Regardless of whether or not you like marching around a field playing music everyday, everyone can appreciate the positive impact that marching band has on students, as well as the level of commitment the students have to their art.
Make sure to catch the band performing at Friday night football games this fall!
