In 1969, the first United States rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, fifty years later Elkhorn High School’s marching band commemorates that event with their fall show titled “Moonshot”. The show is divided into three movements, each with its own purpose. The first movement shows the excitement of the prospect of going to space. This leads into the rocket lifting off and breaking into different parts, like a real rocket would do in the second movement of the show. The band spends some time in floating in space and then shows an astronaut walking on the moon. The show ends in the third movement on the joyful note of planting the United States flag on the moon. 

This year, the marching band has a lot of creative effects and objects added into the show. At the end of the first movement, the band uses three fire extinguishers to imitate the smoke that comes off the bottom of a rocket being launched. In the third movement, the band brings out a makeshift lunar module named Lawrence; driven and named by Lindsey Mulder, an eleventh grade flute player. “We saw it (the module) and just named it Lawrence”, Lindsey said. The module is made from a golf cart and wood covered in tin foil. Ruby Berndt, another eleventh grade flute player, comes out of Lawrence and walks around on the field. 

The most important part of fall marching season is attending band competitions. The band has gone to three competitions so far and got third place overall on October 5th at Lincoln Southeast High School. For every competition, the band packs everything up and can travel as far as Columbus, Nebraska. They unpack and perform for other bands attending, and the judges that give points based on different components of the performance. These components include general effect, visual effect, design appeal, and audience appeal.  

Marching band isn’t just playing music and walking around. Every morning, band members get up early to be at school by 6:50 AM. They then practice until the end of first hour, when they rush upstairs to get changed and thaw their fingers. At practice, they run through the show and make changes that the judges suggested at previous competitions. 

There are a lot of different groups in band. There are the usual instrument sections like flutes and saxophones, and there is frontline, drumline, and color guard. Frontline and drumline members provide the beat and background music that the band relies on. Color guard members bring lots of visual appeal to the performance. Each group has their own section leader or leaders, who keep their sections on track with improvements needed for the show. Students conduct the band in the fall season, and are chosen by other band members and the band staff. This year the band has four Drum Majors, the students who are selected to conduct: Eden Thompson, Aubri Gerdes, Ava DeLaGarza, and Ethan Edwards.

All the hard work that is put in at rehearsals pays off to make a great show. The audience is taken through a joyful story of the first moon landing and the excitement that came along with it. 

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