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Lindsay Inman

Over 100 marchers. Fives hours of practice. One Super Saturday.

To prepare for three upcoming competitions, the OHS marching band rehearsed their show “Everything in it’s Right Place” on Saturday Sept. 10 from 1 to 6 p.m.

“It’s just like cramming for a test,” band director Mr. Vance Brakefield said. “That Super Saturday… is about the equivalency of an entire week of practice that we get during the school week.”

For their first “test” of the competitive season, the band marched at the Farmington Marching Invitational on Sept. 17, finishing third out of six in their division. Many marchers credit Super Saturday for giving them an extra push to work harder.

“Up until Super Saturday (the marchers) didn’t really realize what was going on, they would goof off during rehearsals and stuff,” drum major Taylor Zapf (11) said. “I think that day…there was a complete attitude change going into the week and we worked so hard during that week.”

To start off the Super Saturday practice, the marchers went down to the tennis courts to do a visual warm up, a musical warm up, and then run through several sections of the show. After they went to the football field and ran through most of the show again, they ended Super Saturday with a performance for the parents.

“It’s one thing to play during school where we’re in the stadium and we play to empty bleachers,” Brakefield said. “So it’s nice to have some audience response, and when you do a good job it’s nice to have some applause.”

According to drum major RJ Martin (12), being able to run through the show establishes a precise timeline for their marching and music. As well, the length of Super Saturday shows how important all of their practicing is.

“We don’t sign up (for these competitions) to do bad,” Martin said. “We want to succeed, to build confidence in ourselves and our program so that we feel that all the work we put in hasn’t gone to waste.”

They will compete at the Lafayette Contest of Champions on Sept. 24 in Wildwood, MO, and at the Fort Zumwalt North River City Showcase on Oct. 1 in O’Fallon, MO.