The Raider marching band has progressed greatly over the past few weeks. Many obstacles, such as construction and rain, have been a burden to them, but the group has not let it stop them. The band began to rehearse around mid-July for ten hours every day, Monday through Friday for two weeks. Although the blazing sun beating down on them for hours was not quite enjoyable, everything else about it was. The band has practice on Mondays and Thursdays after school to continue perfecting this year’s show as much as possible.

The organization is a large but tight knit family and anyone is welcome. This allowed the freshmen to make friends and become familiar with the campus before school started. It is also very beneficial to upperclassmen to make friends while still enjoying the time, doing what they love: playing music.

The band’s theme this year is Latin Fantasy. The four movements that they will be playing while marching are Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, A Mis Abuelos, Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio, and El Gato Triste. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, A Mis Abuelos, and El Gato Triste are faster. More exciting pieces that make everybody in the band want to dance, while Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio is a slower, more tragic piece. When it is raining and the band cannot be outside marching, the practice the music for hours on end in order to make it sound extraordinary for the show.

Not only is the music coming along well, but the marching is also going better than expected. This year, the marching band has more people than it has had in years. They have one hundred and fifty people, plus thirty in the color guard. In former years, they have only had around one hundred. Because of this, the marching band staff was expecting a slower season and for everything to take longer, but the caught onto everything very quickly and the season is going much better than previously expected. The band has the first and second movement down completely in terms of playing and marching and they are progressing faster while they get better at fundamentals.

The 2015 Raider Marching Band has worked hard and marched their first game on August 28th. They will be marching on September 18^th as well. Not only will they be marching, but they will also be playing familiar, peppy tunes in the stands to support the Raider Football Team.