School starts Monday for Warsaw Community School Corp. students.
But the high school marching band has been preparing for the fall 2009 season for several weeks already.
According to band director Mickey Ratliff, the working title for this year's show is "Raging Machines." The composer is Brian Balmages, who writes pieces for a variety of ensembles.
The first two parts of the music are "Fusion," and the closing part is "Raging Machines."
The idea behind the theme, Ratliff said, is machines versus metal. Props used for the show are machine-like or metallic. Movements will look like the inner working parts of a machine.
"I think it's going to be a really different kind of show for us," said Ratliff.
Some parts of the show are really aggressive. The band has been performing aggressive music the past few years, so this year's show continues that. Other parts in the show are very different for the band, Ratliff said. They are gorgeous, jazzy, funky and kind of mysterious.
"The show is just going to run a wider range of styles than we've done in the past," he said.
"It's got a unique style," said senior Liz Reusser, who plays the clarinet. "It's fast and upbeat. It's interesting. It incorporates many unique styles for one aspect of the show. It's definitely exciting."
The show also may be a bit more difficult for the band this year than in years past.
"There are some aspects that are a bit more challenging," Ratliff said.
One of the challenges for the band this year is that they have a younger band. It may take them longer to pick up on things in the music.
Band members also didn't pick up all the music sheets as early as they have in the past to get an early start. The music was specifically arranged for the Warsaw band and it wasn't all completed until a couple of weeks ago. In years past, students may have picked it up as early as April or May.
"What is difficult is that we've made the decision, in the past year or so, to really go after being great, being excellent. In the past couple of years, we've worked up to that," Ratliff said. The music and show this year are part of that process.
This year, he said, the band has gotten to the point where the students who once were novices in the band are now more experienced. They are pushing and building up the band and they understand what it takes to go to the next level.
The instructional staff also is pushing itself to work harder to come up with a better product, Ratliff said. This year's show is a means to do just that.
In 2008, one of the marching band's goals was to make it to semi-state. They fell 4 points short.
"This year our goal is definitely to make semi-state. And I think that's definitely a motivation for everyone to work harder and push themselves," Ratliff said.
"My biggest goal is to just improve over last year," said Reusser. "If we make it to semi-state, great, but my goal is to just improve."
"I've realized it is a big deal for them to make state finals, so that's what I'm pushing myself toward," said Meghan Wiseman, freshman trumpet player.The competition dates for the Warsaw Community High School Marching Band are: Sept. 12 at Goshen; Sept. 19, Concord; Sept. 26, Penn High School; Oct. 3, district competition at Penn; Oct. 10, Plymouth; Oct. 17, regional at Chesterton; Oct. 24, semi-state at Indianapolis; and Oct. 31, state finals at Lewis Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.
The band will give its first performance of part of the show at the Aug. 21 home football game.
