Fishers High School’s band program has grown to be very successful in its 20 years of existence. The program is led mainly by its upperclassmen, who take on the responsibility of leading and motivating the younger students, particularly during the marching band season. Almost all students in this leadership team are in the school’s top band class, Wind Ensemble. However, this honor band is only one of five band classes at Fishers, the rest being the Symphonic bands. Mainly comprised of underclassmen, the four bands do not compete at the same level as Wind Ensemble. Though, these students still perform in concerts and compete in Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) at the district level.
All the FHS Symphonic bands performed Friday night on April 24, but the event continued through Saturday, April 25. FHS hosts a select handful of other school ensembles for the ISSMA high school organizational contest. Due to the large volume of competing bands compared to state contests, competitions are divided into regions hosted at various school locations.
Freshman Aden Johnson is part of the Symphonic Gold band. Many incoming freshmen are sorted into either gold or the Symphonic White band based on recommendations from their junior high directors.
“I was nervous for the performance,” Johnson said. “I think I did okay, but I don’t know about the rest of the band because it kind of fell apart.”
At the organizational contest, judges are hired to provide feedback to each band’s musical performance. Group sound, control and timing are the basic areas of determining a good performance.
“I kind of forgot everything over the summer before high school,” Johnson said. “I play the tenor saxophone, and I got better and practiced this year, I can play my major scale now.”
Symphonic Silver is a step up from White band and was originally the beginner-level class for those in marching band. The classes have since been reorganized by skill level regardless of one’s commitment to the marching ensemble.
Freshman Graham Vergara was placed in silver band for his first year of high school. In one of the class’s pieces, Vergara opened with an alto saxophone solo.
“I think I did amazing tonight,” Vergara said. “Our group did awesome, and we did the best we could.”
Vergara completed his first season of marching band this past November. Not all students enrolled in band class are expected to join the marching band. New members spend their first year learning to march and play in time, stressing practice in repetition and commitment to band.
“[marching band] is my favorite part of the summer,” he said. “It keeps me active and practicing my instrument.”
As Fishers High School hosts this event for several schools, they rely on volunteer work to help run everything smoothly. Typically, they encourage performing arts students to assist at various jobs, such as running judge papers or being a band guide for other schools.
“I volunteered before my performance to help with sight-reading, to get to know the process,” sophomore Allie Steiner said.
Steiner began her freshman year in silver band and as a sophomore, she has advanced to first-chair clarinet in red band. She has set sights on Wind Ensemble next year, along with applying to be a marching band section leader.
“We sounded good during our warmup, and I liked how our performance was together,” Steiner said. “There was confidence. Everyone seemed very locked in and focused.”
Many freshmen competed for the first time this weekend. From starting the first day of school relearning scales and fingerings, to meeting the higher standards of high school playing, focusing on tuning and controlling their sound. The Symphonic band classes are imperative to the band’s long-term success. Every year, juniors and sophomores take the place of graduating seniors, prepared by these classes, leading the freshman as they were once led.
