Strike up the Band! SN strives to keep band strong

By Kathryn Rice

South Nodaway has made changes to facilitate students staying in its band.

The 41 band members in grades seven to 12 now practice in the middle of the day instead of in the morning, allowing juniors and seniors to include band and vo-tech in their class schedules. This small change has resulted in an increase in band members.

Tamra Davis, music instructor, said that teachers and administrators worked together to change the schedule. At one time, there were more junior high than high school students in band, but the numbers are beginning to balance.

“I love everything about band. We can all come together and put together a piece of music that everyone enjoys,” Treyton Farnan, senior drum major, said. “When it comes parade time, we see all of our hard work pay off.”

The SN band marched in the Northwest Homecoming parade and the Missouri Western State University parade, where they placed second out of seven schools in their class.

“I like being able to interpret music and play it the way I want,” senior Cordell Walker said.

Besides the two parades, all of the high school band members will participate in the 275 Conference Band on November 7. Their Christmas concert will be December 15 and the group plans to return to the Worlds of Fun Music Festival in May.

Senior Sydney Harlan said she stayed in band “because I like the activities we do through band. I like pep band the most. It gets the crowd all fired up for the game.”

The SN band performs as the pep band for two home football games and four basketball games. Last year, the group played at the state basketball tournament.

“I really like music and being in band gives me the passion of music,” Devanna Ostrander, senior, said. “I like being with everyone in the band.”