On October 31, the Oliver Ames Marching Band was declared Division 4 Champions at the MICCA Finals, concluding their competition season with a major win. The feelings were bitter-sweet with their transfer into the parade band season. The hopes are high with the release of the basis of their 2022’s show theme, Stevie Wonder, and the announcement of their two new drum majors, Cassie Passias and Sammy Weintraub, at their banquet on November 19.
This was freshmen Matt Scarbrough’s first marching band season as a clarinetist. He tells Daily Olivian, “[At first] I was a little overwhelmed [at marching band]. It was very confusing. We had to learn a lot of new concepts. They basically taught us how to re-walk.” He eventually became more comfortable with it all and explains, “It was difficult, but they taught it well and I’m glad I did it.”.
Lilly Griffth, fellow first-timer felt similar feelings. She stated, “I think my biggest personal achievement was when I finally figured out where everything went in the music and I had everything memorized and completely ready to go to for the shows”. Lilly too felt proud after becoming comfortable with the tasks she found challenging and a little overwhelming at first. These feelings were felt from the horn line to the color guard to the pit, which Lilly plays in.
There is more to learn from marching band than just the steps and music. There is a mentality shift that has to happen in each of the members’ brains in order for the show to really work. As Matt reflected, “The hardest thing I had to learn in marching band was that there is more of a group aspect to the activity. It’s not so much about what you’re doing, it’s how you look in the form, or how the group looks when you’re doing it. I had to push past thinking of myself [and instead] think about how I can make other people better around me to get the form to look good.”
In marching band, everyone has to be doing this, trying their hardest and looking beyond themselves, not just one person. Everyone relies on one another. As Cassie Passias, one of the new drum majors, explains “[In marching band,] every single person is necessary. It’s unique to everything else. You can’t tap someone in. You can’t sub someone out. There’s this teaching of lessons about a group that is so tightly woven that is just going to carry through with everyone in their lives.”
All of this was backed up by the sense of family marching band has carried with it on its journey and that the students and staff hope to continue with as time moves on. Mia Rinehart, 2021’s drum major remarks, “I think continuing to center the band around community and family is what will really make it easier to work hard. If you forget about that’s where we came from, it’s not going to be as fun or as easy or as motivating to spend 10 hours every week on the field with your friends.”.
Sammy Weintraub, who is serving as 2022’s drum major along with Cassie, wants to pass this feeling on to the newcomers next year. As she describes, “There’s this family aspect I am really trying to prove to some new students. This is such a safe place where everyone is welcomed, and I think that’s the thing I’m most excited to pass on. Sammy develops, “No matter who you are, no matter if you play an instrument or if you don’t, marching band is always a safe place where you always wind up making friends and having a good time and you feel like you belong.”
Along with being like a family, marching band strived to maintain a new quality this year, constant improvement. This can be heard in their motto, “Better every time”. Though things are easier said than done, OAMB made this motto a reality. Mia describes, “It would have been super easy after the first time that we got first place to just kind of coast through the rest of the season and stop working as hard as we had been. Instead of saying to ourselves that we made it and that we were good, we kept working harder and harder every week and we kept getting better even though there was nothing telling us that we had to do that. We didn’t have to get better beyond first place. It was never really about being first though. It was always about being the best band that we could be.”
As Cassie tells the Daily Olivian, “It’s about continuing to put in effort. You are never the best you can be. You’re never going to achieve perfection, but you can strive for it. You keep working and you push everyone around you…You know, the dirtiest word in the dictionary is potential.”
Looking beyond themselves, building upon their sense of family, and really striving for improvement every minute was how the marching band was able to achieve so much when times seemed challenging. James, a color guard who has been doing marching band for 3 years, remarks on ” the accomplishment of being able to even have a season this good after COVID and even having a quick season during (last) spring to go over the basics and everything”. He finds “the fact that even after so long of not marching [and preforming] we were still able to do so well” extremely extraordinary.
The marching band overcame more than just a pandemic, which would be a huge feat alone. Mia explains, “I am proud that we are a band that overcomes adversity time and time again whether it be power outages all throughout town…or even just injuries. I think our band just really pushes through it and we worked together to make sure everyone has what they need”.
With all this said, the minds of the members and staff are just as excited for their next show on Stevie Wonder, led by new drum majors Cassie and Sammy, as they were for the accomplishments and hardwork of this past season. The show was originally written for Stoughton High school, but is being altered and parts rewritten to specifically fit OA’s style and band. Sammy expresses, “I am super excited for the show…I think it’s going to be a really cool turn to take that’s going to get a lot of kids excited for our show.” Oliver Ames, mark your calendars. This show is going to be unforgettable!