by Erin McKinley

Throughout the month of October, the VCHS Marching Band and Color Guard have developed great skill in their practices and performances as well as a little more experience.

The marching band and color guard performed at Homecoming, on Friday, October 6, during half time and received a large round of applause from their spectators. This was the first time that they had performed in front of a large audience. Junior Brian Daily, a tuba player in the band, commented, “the Homecoming performance, although it was not perfect . . . gave us a solid first performance.” Daily has had a lot of experience, considering that this is his third year in the marching band.

The band and guard performed again the following Friday at the game versus Junipero Serra. It was yet another practice performance that prepared them for the next day. On Saturday, October 14, the marching band and color guard performed at Gilroy High School. Senior Jessica Maranon, the flute section leader, remarked, that “that has to be the highest [score we have received when] we have performed for the first competition of the year.” This is Maranon’s fourth year and she can already feel that there is a good team bonding between each member. Senior Erin Tao, the clarinet section leader, stated that “it was very, very solid; nothing horrible went wrong. [However, the] acoustics were very bad . . .” but she thought that overall they did pretty well. The marching band and color guard won sweepstakes, which is above first place, with a score of 75.9 (out of 100) and they won trophies in: Best Music, Visual, Overall Effect, Percussion, and Auxiliary (Color Guard). In all, they won six trophies (including the Sweepstakes Award).

Later in the month, the band and guard performed at their final Friday night half time performace on October 20, at the game versus Bellarmine. This was the last of their performances at Valley Christian High School. The next day, the marching band and color guard traveled to and performed at Fresno State. They received second place in their division with a score of 81.05. The school that won sweepstakes was only two points ahead and the first place school was one point ahead of Valley Christian. Julianne Kelly, the band’s drum major, said of the result, “I think the competition will be good this year because we are in the top three. Competition is heating up!” Kelly said this because the scores were so close.

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