BELDING — Back-to-school season happens a bit earlier for some students involved in extracurricular activities working to prepare for their season as summer wraps up. We went back to band camp, joining the marching band at Belding High School.
The sounds of a hard-working summer as the Belding High School marching band prepares for a busy season. Band director Ryan Ruble says the band is the largest student organization with 85 students, 60% of which are freshman or sophomores.
"We are the spirit squad between our students' action and ourselves were the soundtrack for the game," said Ryan Ruble, Belding Band Director.
The band brings that game day atmosphere to the whole community. Between band camp and countless rehearsals, it’s a lot of preparation that takes a ton of effort and a whole lot of practice.
"On a typical week, we have an hour and a half in class every day, plus at least three hours outside of school once a week to get ready for a Friday night performance and Saturday performance for our competitive circuit. So easily you're pushing 12 to 15 hours of rehearsal a week," said Ruble.
Hours and hours getting ready for a 6 and a half minute halftime show. The students learn how to march, play their instrument while moving and memorize it all to entertain the crowd.
"Drill is the pretty picture on the field. Each individual student carries with them a coordinate sheet, we break the field down to an x and a y axes," said Ruble.
The students do what's called a roll step giving their audience a clear sound through every move they make. Ruble says putting everything together at the same time is like walking and chewing gum but times 10 with no breaks in between. It’s a challenge that requires a lot of focus and has a bit of a learning curve…
These students go for six and a half minutes nonstop while exerting the same amount of oxygen that you would be if you were running a marathon a long distance run," said Ruble.
"I remember being little. And I would come to the football games and the band would perform. And I was like, I could do that like so easily. And then I got out there my freshman year and I was lost," said Luke Pigorsh, senior center snare drum.
From the new freshman to expert seniors these Black Knights make it look easy. This year’s show is titled “A path less traveled by” painting a picture of an unexpected musical palette. No doubt Belding is known as a band town as students and teachers alike say nothing compares to their community support.
It just feels it feels really good to know that everybody's loving what you're putting out there. And you can like when they start cheering, it's just an overwhelming, good feeling," said Ian Neael, senior drum major
"It's a community tradition, but it's also a family tradition. Many of the students in band have a sibling or a parent that also was a band member," said Ruble.
A tradition of hard work and half-time shows making these kids not only better musicians but better people. "Trophies can stack up dust. But the memories you create on the field can last much much longer," said Ruble.
Belding High School is setting up to have an exciting season as they will keep preparing to qualify for state competitions at Ford Field this November plus a very patriotic performance next July. Representative Peter Meijer invited the band to D.C. to perform at the nation’s capital on the 4th of July next year! They need our help though to get there so if you would like to support the Belding High School band you can log on to their website beldingbands.org.
