• Mackenzie Gill and Cheyenne Brading

With a couple of competitions under their belt, the Salem Marching Lions are off to a great start this season. 

Winning their first competition proved to be very memorable for Brittany Hildenbrand, SHS band director, and for the rest of the staff and band students. She said that the students were practically “jumping with joy” at the successful competition. 

However, their success hasn’t come without obstacles. Hildrenbrand said students were suffering from the heat during the walk from warm-ups to the end of the football field, and she was worried about students who could not perform. 

“I was mainly nervous about the heat, as well as the competition,” Hildenbrand said.

When asked about any improvement they may make for the upcoming performances and competitions, Hildenbrand said that the judge paneling often gives feedback and criticisms to the band and the band then reflects on the feedback to improve on it. 

“After talking with the judges/listening to their tapes, we make a plan for what to address and improve upon,” she said. 

She also spoke about the way winning their first competition really affected them. She believed that winning gave the students confidence in their abilities and performances. 

One student that felt the confidence boost was sophomore Kelsey Sease, who felt that winning helped with her trust in her ability to perform and do better. 

“It was such a relief after putting in so much work on the show,” said Sease. 

Although, with the relief of winning, she found a few issues with band members and staff passing out. She expressed how the heat caused a lot of problems and introduced a lot of worrying during the competition. 

“The temperatures are cooling off finally so hopefully this won’t be an issue anymore,” she said. 

Sease also ran into her nerves, struggling with the heat was one thing, but she said that preparing to overcome her anxiety on the field was another thing entirely. 

“I was just so worried the whole time,” she said. 

Sease plans to use the feedback from the judge panels to improve their guard work and visuals, especially learning through all the work the band went through to prepare for the competition. 

“We were outside in the heat all summer and after school working every week on the show,” she said, “we had long hours and tough work but it was worth it in the end.”

Overall, Sease stated that winning the competition had inspired the band more than anything else, especially with the newer members of the band. She encouraged the team to push further and to show that all the hard work they put in is worth it in the end.

“Winning showed us that we were capable and it gave us a taste of victory that we really needed,”said Sease. 

Upcoming performances for the remainder of the marching season include:

10/5/24- Jasper HS (Scholastic Prelims) (time TBD)

10/11/24- Home Football Game

10/18/24- Home Football Game

10/19/24- Franklin Central HS (Scholastic Finals) (time TBD)

The band will have three concerts this school year: Oct. 22, Fall Concert at 7 p.m. in Trueblood PAC; Dec. 5, Winter Concert at 7 p.m. in Trueblood PAC and May 8, Spring Concert at 7 p.m.  in Trueblood PAC.