Band members find their way home on and off the marching band field
The Dartmouth High School marching band perform at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 25. Photos by Abby Van Selous
Band members march across the field.
Laying beneath a "sailboat."
A member of the color guard dances.
Playing the trumpet.
A percussionist performs.
Marching band members dance as if they are in rough waters.
A percussionist.
The Dartmouth High School marching band perform at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 25. Photos by Abby Van Selous
Band members march across the field.
Laying beneath a "sailboat."
A member of the color guard dances.
Playing the trumpet.
A percussionist performs.
Marching band members dance as if they are in rough waters.
A percussionist.
Beneath the stadium lights at Memorial Stadium, the Dartmouth High School marching band performed a show about rocky waters and finding a way to the light. In this case, this is done quite literally.
Groups of band members started near “sailboats,” moving as if they were going through waves as members of the color guard danced across the field twirling color guard rifles and flags.
Band members circled around a lighthouse, finishing their show with the lighthouse’s beam shining down on them as they held lights of their own.
The show, called “Beacon,” is a story of change.
“Throughout the whole entire piece you go through each movement, you go through different parts, starting off really rough in the music,” said drum major Aerro Gove.
She added, “It’s us finally finding our light and us finally finding our way home.”
The Dartmouth High School marching band placed second in their division during a competition on Saturday, Oct. 25, which was also the team’s last home show of the season.
Senior Brady Edgcomb said it hadn’t hit him yet that the Saturday performance was the last time he would compete at Memorial Stadium.
“It feels very surreal, just the last time being here and performing in front of an amazing crowd,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
When Edgcomb started marching band he was in seventh grade and it was the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was really weird,” he said of his first year. “We didn’t go any places. We were here the whole time, just taking recordings of the shows and sending it to judges, which was an experience of its own.”
In a way, the show “Beacon” is a story of the team and this marching band season. With new staff members and fewer band members, the beginning of the year saw a shakier start than previous years.
Edgcomb called the season one of change as the band members adjusted to the shake-up in members.
“We kind of have to change up our style of performance, and it’s changed for the better,” he said. “I feel like it’s only up from here.”
Gove called this season a “restructuring year” and said that while the team hasn’t been winning as many competitions, she still sees this year as “so much better” than previous years.
“We are building a family, which is something we never had before,” she said.
