What it takes to make a high school marching band show

The Spark

High school marching band students spend countless hours preparing for their competition shows and halftime performances. Brandon Buterbaugh is the Director of Bands at Hershey High School. Eric Farkas is the Band Director at Cumberland Valley High School.

Buterbaugh says at first, he didn't really enjoy his marching band experience in high school.

"Marching band in particular was just the one that I don't know. I mean, I love I loved being at the football games, but going through going to practice again, the biggest turnoff for me that was making it not fun was the fact that our band director made it feel like she didn't really want to be there. So it's like if she doesn't want to be there and she's not fully invested in what we're trying to accomplish for her, in a sense, on the field, it's like, Well, then why am I. Why am I wasting my time here?, "Said Buterbaugh.

Buterbaugh earned his college degree from Penn State University.

"I went to Penn State University to do my undergrad in trombone performance. I'm sorry, trombone, but music education went to West Virginia University for trombone performance. Following that, where I also helped out with the marching band there, about 350 members was a grad assistant and that was a lot of fun. That really opened my mind to what was possible with Marching band, how to run it effectively for a large group of students. Had a great time at West Virginia and then started my journey here at Hershey just over five years ago and have been loving it since and really enjoying the journey of getting to work with students and kind of build a program with with my philosophy in mind and and the ongoing challenges of Covid and getting recovering from that has been all part of this journey. And I've I've enjoyed it, "said Buterbaugh.

For Farkas, he always involved in music from brass brand, and a youth orchestra. Like Buterbuagh, he hated his marching band experience in high school, but that all changed when he went to college.

" I gave it a shot when I went to Kutztown. I was in the drumline in high school, but in college I went to the front ensemble, which is more like marimbas and keyboard percussion, and I had an absolute blast. It was so much fun. And I started to work with local marching bands, mainly career wise, wiser high school. I was working with their ensemble and their percussion ensemble during the spring, and it really does open my eyes like this can be a lot of fun and I can enjoy it a lot more than I did in high school. And I want I want other high school kids to be able to see just how much fun this activity is and all the different types of people you're going to meet. My journey took me to various different states. I worked for a couple of years in Delaware as a choir director, actually, of all things. And then I went to the East Shore in Virginia, working as a band director for both high school and middle school. And then this is actually on my second year at Cumberland Valley. But so I've been thrown into a lot of different things here at the marching band. And it's been it's been such a blast. These kids are phenomenal to work with. And this season in particular has been off to such a great start, "said Farkas.

Listen to the podcast to hear how Farkas and Buterbaugh create their performances.

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