The Co-Op marching band is a part of a co-op with students from North Branford High School and Eli Whitney. The marching band consists of 30 people, with the team being larger than it was the previous school year.

Mr. Steven Wolf is the band director and is also the music teacher at East Haven High School. This is Wolf’s second year at the high school. The job of a band director is to help make sure that everyone else is being set up for success, and they need to be an expert in each section. Before Wolf was at EHHS he had been at Great Path Academy.

There are other coaches for different specialties that need to be taught in the band. There are around 8-10 people that are there to help the band. Some of the coaches are volunteers, and some of them are there to learn. Two drum majors help with being the leaders of the band. The drum majors are the people who conduct during the performance. The two drum majors are Ava Maroney, a senior at EHHS, and Alex Shadman, a senior at North Branford. To help out during their practices, Ava and Alex help organize things when they are told to. Alex conducts the first half of the show while Ava conducts the second half.

The team won almost all of their competitions, winning four competitions and coming into second place for only two of them. Some of their wins were at East Lyme and Cheshire. When going to competitions they compete against the same bands within their divisions multiple times. Most of the time, the band does not need to travel too far with their competitions being in the state.

At the competitions there are five to seven judges that score the bands out of 100, the East Haven marching band scores average around 75-81. Each of these judges has different categories that they are required to watch. Each judge has a score sheet and they score on what the band is doing and how well they are doing it. They are also basing the final scores on what they do and if it is appropriate for their ability level.

There are 4 sections of the entire marching band that determine every individual member’s role is in the show. There is the horn line, the color guard, the pit/front ensemble, and the drumline. Each section has a student leader to take control of things within their section. The horn line captain is Nathan Higgins (NBHS senior), the color guard captain is EHHS junior Daniella Orozco, the pit/front ensemble captain is EHHS senior Jessica Gambardella and the drumline captain is EHHS senior Vinnie Apicella. Each section plays different roles in the show to make it cohesive.

The theme for this year’s performance is Spectres of the Dark Forest. The performers start as big soldiers and then they turn into monsters. The hornline is “patrolling” the forest looking for the specters. When the show starts, the guard and pit act as the specters while the hornline still acts as soldiers. After the second movement, the hornline gets “transformed” and switched into other sections, i.e. drumline, pit, and color guard. By the end, everyone has been turned and the spectres have won.

Practices occur on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 3 hours each day. During their competition seasons, the members also have to get to school at 8:30 on Saturdays, the team tries to practice as much as they can before they need to leave for their competitions. During practices they use the time to pick out little things to fix, even if something is slightly off, they change it. During the summertime, the band has a camp where they practice for about 6-8 hours a day. People who are a part of the band practice hard to be able to achieve what they need to. Everyone is expected to work hard, practice, and be able to fix their mistakes.

The ride home is even more exciting than the competition itself. EHHS sophomore Alexis Streitweiser who plays the saxophone and has been in the band for 3 years, says “We party on the bus ride home,” everyone is blasting music and just having a generally good time together celebrating their win. EHHS senior Jessica Gambardella, who has been in the band for 6 years, plays the vibraphone and the conga drums said that at the end of the session they always have a banquet. At these banquets, they hand out awards, dress up, and listen to music. Both Alexis and Jessica have a favorite song that they play, and it is Pan’s Labyrinth, composed by Javier Navarrete. This year for states it is taking place in Rockville on October 29th and nationals are taking place in Pennsylvania on November 5th.