HHS band prepares for Friday night lights

By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

HELENA – For the past two weeks, Helena High School students have arrived at the HHS practice field bright and early for band camp. With majorettes, dancers and band members marching in precise formation, the HHS band hopes to make this year’s show the best ever.

The Helena High School band’s show will be called “Night Fury,” and will feature a variety of songs such as “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Oh, What a Night.”

According to HHS Assistant Band Director Brent Traylor, his favorite moment of the show is the finale medley of “All Night Long” and “Rhythm of the Night.” Traylor shared that this moment of the performance is fun, upbeat and poses a rewarding challenge for the students.

“It’s fun watching the kids be presented a challenge that at first they can’t do and then as they work on it, they’re able to succeed and how they respond,” Traylor said. “That response really just makes it one the thing you are looking forward to see because when they get it done, they’re always like ‘Yeah, nailed it.’”

In order to maximize practice, the students receive sheet music in advance to start learning on their own. On Tuesday and Thursday before band camp, the members gather to combine their individual parts into the whole piece.

And while this schedule is true for most band players, percussionists operate on a completely different timeline. The percussionists start band camp a whole week earlier than the rest of the band.

“Our percussion actually met last week, all week long, to work on their fundamentals and actually learn the entire show,” Traylor said. “They come into the week, actually knowing the entire show, so that we can use them to contribute to our learning process.”

While running through sections of the show, there are times that the percussionists play without any accompanying music to allow the rest of the band to grow accustomed to the tempo of the songs while they work on marching fundamentals.

Meanwhile, the color guard and dance team are on the field with the band, learning their routines in tandem with the band.

“In the first week of band camp, what we try to accomplish here is getting every aspect of our field show on the field and mostly clean,” Traylor said.

Over the course of the two-three weeks of band camp, the goal is to have the show ready so that when school starts, the band can focus on fine tuning and making only minor adjustments.

Overall, Traylor is happy with the band’s efforts during band camp this year and looks forward to debuting the show for the Helena community.

“(Band camp) is going really well,” Traylor said. “We’re ahead this year and the weather has been very nice. The kids have great attitudes. The cool weather is allowing them to focus a lot more and we’re getting more done than what we would typically get done.”

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