Marching Band
What is Marching Band?
The Marching Band is a fun way to complete the musical experience at San Juan Hills. It is a non-competitive group, meaning we focus on a halftime show and pep tunes for football games. We pick crowd-friendly music, and focus on making this a fun, enjoyable experience for both the musicians and the student body. Don’t let non-competitive fool you, though. Even though our focus is football games, for students wanting to join a more intensive experience through DCI or college marching bands, students learn all the skills relating to marching and drill that these groups year. We’ve had many students move forward in those venues, and have even had students serve as drum majors at their universities.
Marching Band meets Tuesday’s from 6-8PM (music) and Thursdays from 6-9 (drill) through the football season (to late October/early November). We meet in the evenings so students with sports conflicts can usually participate. We play for all home football games as well as some select away games. We also play at all CIF playoff games.
Marching band complements the ‘core’ music classes (concert band, wind ensemble, all string orchestras). Because the main goal is performance, and not the entirety of the state framework in music education, students must be enrolled in a core music class in order to participate in marching band. However, students receive PE credit for doing marching band. That means that students not doing a sport can drop their PE class during the 0-6 school day, which opens up a period for students to take the core music classes. Students taking a sport may still have an open spot depending on their schedule, but can also take a 0 period to guarantee space.
We have MANY students from the orchestras in the marching band. There are no auditions, and many orchestra students find success in the drumline. Some also learn a new wind instrument. Beginners are welcome in marching band. Because it’s the only ensemble where ALL band members are present at the same time, Freshmen and beginning students improve rapidly because they have older students in their section. Students in the marching band tend to be more involved, have the most fun, improve the fastest, and create a greater connection to the whole school. We greatly encourage all band and orchestra students to participate in the marching band.
Rehearsals:
Tuesdays 6-8PM
Thursdays 6-9PM