Band camp helps students grow musically

Near the end of summer, over 40 incoming marching band members attended band camp for three weeks to learn the fundamentals of marching.

For two weeks, the members held their ground against competitive drill downs, multiple sessions of grid of death, and death blocks that never seemed to end. Each day in band camp lasted six hours, with only an hour lunch break in between to look forward to as the only salvation from the scorching heat.

Freshman Elsie Wang shares her thoughts on death blocks, where members “block it up,” stand still, and are not allowed to smile, laugh, or make any movements until the time is up. It can last up to 10 minutes, and one single action can cause the timer to restart.

“It’s horrible. It’s sweaty. It’s hot. You can’t move,” Wang said. “I didn’t laugh, [but] they were making World War II jokes.”

In addition to learning the rigors of Marching Band, band camp became a journey of self-discovery for current and incoming marching band members alike.

“Band camp helped me build [on] my social skills and learn [how] to talk [to] and lead people,” senior drum major Christian Le said. “It allowed me to be- come more confident in leading a group of people without running them into a wall, and [by] teaching new people the things I already knew, I got to learn more myself as different people know different things.”

Junior Victor Lao also shares his experience of growing as a person by interacting with others and gaining a sense of unity.

“I improved as a person by putting myself in unfamiliar situations that I would’ve never [gotten into] had it not been for band camp,” Lao said. “It helped me socialize and made me want to improve [myself] overall, seeing everyone working so hard together.”

During the last week of band camp, the members were saved from the heat and played countless run-throughs of songs to be performed in the upcoming school year in the band room, where there was air conditioning.

The band showcased what they learned over these three weeks to the school faculty on the following Wednesday at school.