The Whitmer Marching Band
Camp starts with the new marchers learning fundamentals, how to come to attention, go to parade rest, etc. This is followed by marking time, and horn carriage, horns up and down. Next, the new marchers start moving with the forward march, right and left left flanking, backward marching, and floating. At the end of the first week the new marchers know enough to join the veterans and the whole band spends about three days of camp drilling up and down the field, developing into a "tight group" and getting ready to learn pregame and halftime drill. By the end of camp that band has learned pregame drill, halftime drill, and done a lot of marching in "parade block."
The whole band starts camp in playing rehearsals. The band begins by learning (reviewing for the upperclassmen) all of our stand tunes, cheers, and pregame music. The Whitmer Band is COMMITTED to being involved in the game! Once the band has a solid foundation on all of this music, we begin learning the halftime music. By the end of band camp we have learned all of our pregame music, stand tunes, cheers, music for the first halftime show, and hopefully have a head start on future shows.
Each year the WLS Band & Orchestra Boosters host the Chicken BBQ. During this event the marching band performs a 15 minute "concert" (stand still) performance. The band wears "summer uniforms" for this performance. Report time for the band is usually approximately 5:30 P.M.
The times vary slightly each year, however, typically we meet Monday morning (whenever Labor Day falls) at school at approximately 7:45 A.M. The parade starts at 9:00 A.M. and takes about 20 minutes to march.....once we step off. Some years we are early in the parade and some years we are later. If we step-off early we could be back at school by 10:30 A.M. If we are near the end we could be back at school as late as 11:30 A.M. We have never been done later than noon. We wear full uniforms for this performance, weather permitting.
The sequence of events for a home football game is as follows:
When the band travels, we all ride the buses together. Once we arrive at our destination, we proceed much like we would for a home game. We will give the students an approximate time we expect to return to Whitmer after an away game. Most of the students use their cell phones to call for a ride once when we get close to Whitmer. For those parents picking up students, please try to pick up up your son/daughter as soon as you can. At least one of the directors will be waiting to make sure all students have rides and sometimes we end up waiting a long time.
This is an informal parade which always takes place the Thursday night before the homecoming game. The band marches from Wernert Elementary to Whitmer Stadium, leading homecoming floats, the court, the cheerleaders and football team as we go. Once we arrive at the stadium we play some music until everyone arrives, then participate during the program. The parade usually starts at 6:00 P.M. and the band is usually dismissed by 7:45 P.M. We typically wear blue and gold t-shirts or sweatshirts for this performance along with jeans and athletic shoes.
There are some exceptions, but almost everybody is required to buy the following (prices are approximate, but very close, if not exact):
The items listed above will be ordered for the students at the beginning of band camp.
In addition to the items above, which are required, the students have the OPTION to purchase sweats, sweatshirts, long-sleeved t-shirts, which are usually designed on a yearly basis by a band member, band parent, etc.