Dartmouth High marching band scares up an award-winning performance at home show

The Dartmouth High School marching band and color guard gave the audience and judges quite the fright with a spooky, supernatural-themed performance at its Home Show on September 28. 

The bright sun was out during the annual Home Show at Memorial Stadium because the schedule was adjusted to be earlier in the afternoon due to the threat of Eastern equine encephalitis. 

The schedule change, however, did not stop students from delivering a haunting, Halloween-themed performance. 

This year’s performance is called “Witching Hour.” Students have been preparing and developing it for months, and are now in the midst of the busy fall band season. 

The show focuses on the atmosphere, sounds, and unusual supernatural occurrences during the “Witching Hour”

“It’s not so much about the witches, as much as it’s about the weird things that happen during the Witching Hour  — all the magical stuff,” said Luke Higgins, one of this year’s drum majors, along with Mitchell Morin and Lyah Esplana. 

To create that effect, students donned ghostly costumes, from dark cloaks to witch attire. Sounds of bells chiming and other spooky sounds filled the air during movements of trumpets. 

The performance earned Dartmouth High an 86.625 finish, and first place in its division. The success is aided in part by students’ familiarity with the performance amid a busy schedule. 

“We actually learned a large chunk of the show earlier than we normally do, and we had our first show earlier,” Higgins noted.