The John Adams Marching Band is swinging back into style with their new show “Helen Of Troy!” Based on the Greek mythology story of Helen, along with Menelaus’ story of love and war, the show consists of four pieces of music, or “segments,” that tell the well-known tale of the Trojan War.
The band is led by Director Kevin Graham, Assistant Directors Emily Pantelleria and Ali Carmignani and Percussion Technician Charlie “Señor” Lawrence. The band has four drum majors this year: Kenneth (Kenny) Brown, Ruthie Tan, Joie Warnke and Adam Hartz. Their three captains include woodwind captain Ben Vansickle, brass captain David Pine and percussion captain Joel Martinez.
So far, the marching eagles have improved their competition score by five points compared to last year, scoring a 47.4 out of 100 and placing third in their class at the Goshen Invitational on Sept. 9. They will compete in their second competition of the year on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Penn Festival Bands.
When asking first year drum major Joie Warnke what she felt the band’s biggest change was compared to last year, she said, “the most noticeable improvement that I’ve seen in the band is the level of motivation that the members have.” She has recognized the returning member’s renewed excitement for the band. Warnke is thrilled about the future of the band and expects the band to continue to get better every year.
Percussion captain Joel Martinez spoke about the percussion section’s improved abilities, saying that, “our general playing skills and technique have definitely improved [since the beginning of the season].” He also stated that the percussion section has “great potential,” but they need to take advantage of their opportunity with the time they have the rest of the season.
Brass captain David Pine was passionate about the connections with one another that the brass section has made since the beginning of the season. He gives credit to the comfortable environment as a key factor for their success, saying “the most improvement I’ve seen as the brass captain is how much more comfortable players are with each other between July [when the season began] to now.” He was thrilled with the hard work and enhancement the section has had the whole year. Pine thinks the future of the brass section is bright and continues to encourage his group to embrace their loudness and fun-spirited humor.
Woodwind captain Ben Vansickle sees much evolution in the playing and marching abilities of the woodwinds, but the thing that stood out the most was the increase in passion and motivation toward the show. Vansickle says, “it’s cool to know that they have such good role models to look up to that make them so passionate about music and our band.”
After speaking with members of the John Adams Marching Band’s leadership team and staff, it is clear that they are all prideful about what they do and are super excited about the future of the band.
Last season, the marching eagles competed in ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association) State competition, in which you need a score of 60 or better to qualify, and have since been practicing rigorously to return for a second season through doing four band practices each week, plus instrument-specific practices at least once a week. They will compete in preliminary competition on Sept. 30 at Plymouth High School. The band is eager to start playing again, and working hard to make the school proud!