To entertain this year’s audiences with popular music, the Souderton Big Red marching band intends to use its space-themed performance to improve from its past shows.
The title of the marching band performance this year is “To the Moon,” featuring songs such as “Space Odyssey” by David Bowie, “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra and “Talking to the Moon” by Bruno Mars. The performance showcases the 1969 moon landing. According to marching band director Richard Freda, this year’s show is for all audiences. “It just seemed like an awesome show that all crowds would like no matter how old they are,” Freda said.
Freda said the show was chosen after listening to over 100 different shows.
According to Freda, this was one of the only shows the directors found that was “better than last year’s,” as well as offering students a slightly more difficult show to learn.
Freda’s focus for the show is on the performance itself, not the competitions.
“I always tell the kids we don’t worry about scores, we don’t worry about placements,” Freda said, “I want them to come off the field every time knowing they had a great show.”
Marching tech Christian Stopyra agrees that the wide range of genres in the show is good for the audience. “It’s something everybody can relate to,” Stopyra said.
Music tech Megan Malmquist also enjoys the variety in this year’s performance.
“We’ve got a whole bunch of genres happening in this show,” Malmquist said. “There’s David Bowie to jazz, which is awesome.”
According to Stopyra, the performance this year is “tricky,” but the marching band has been “getting along pretty well with it.”
Drum major Bradley Evans thinks that the varied list of songs will get a positive response from the audience, since the repertoire is more well-known than previous years.
Evans also believes that the physical aspects of the performance are likely to get the audience’s attention.
“When we get the prop on there, which is a big TV, that’s really going to grab people’s attention,” Evans said.
Assistant drum major Giana Joyce thinks that the first movement is going to set the tone for the show.
“I think it’s probably our strongest aspect of our show,” Joyce said.
Freda hopes that the performance keeps the audience invested, and believes that this is the year that they will captivate the viewers.
The marching band has had some complications with their drill, due to issues with the drill writer and the complexity of the performance.
According to Stopyra, these complications have put the band “in a bit of a time crunch.”
Despite these difficulties, Evans believes that he will be able to get the marching band “into fighting shape” for the rest of their competition season.