Liberty’s homecoming football game is one of the biggest school sporting events of the year. The stands are packed with fans. The energy is at an all time high. Powering this crowd is the blast of the Liberty High School band. And once a year, the Liberty band takes center stage for one thing: the marching show.
This year, the show was entirely arranged by students. In the past, students have arranged individual songs, but never an entire show.
“I remember in our freshman year, there was a really great arranger for Liberty band, and they produced a lot of great stuff,” senior Band President Shreyas Kolwalkar said. “We felt that we needed to bring in music that’s more representative of our generation and a more modern take that better reflects the voices of our band.”
To pick music, a poll was released to the band in May, including options like Bruno Mars, ABBA, and Lady Gaga.
“[The band] chose a Bruno Mars medley,” Kolwalkar said. “We did ‘Treasure,’ ‘Just the Way You Are,’ and ‘Uptown Funk.’ I’m excited for this show because I feel like it’s a lot more of a Gen Z take on a marching show.”
This show was arranged by three seniors: Shreyas Kolwalkar, Isabelle Chau, and Bella Franck. They all hold key positions at the forefront of the Liberty band, giving them the experience necessary to come together and create a medley of music for everyone to enjoy.
But with these big plans, the group experienced difficulties not only in arranging the pieces, but finding time to work on the music together.
“It was hard because almost as soon as Shreyas came back from India in June, I had to leave for Taiwan. It was a lot of scheduling calls and working independently to get the work done,” Franck said.
Senior Drum Major Chau acts as the embodiment of the band’s spirit. As the drum major, she conducts the band rather than play with them. From this position, she is able to both see and hear the band from a different perspective.
“I feel like a lot of the band looks for me to stay together in the music,” Chau said. “I think that putting more leadership towards the music brings a stronger connection between me with the rest of the band, knowing that I’m the one that’s helping conduct this.”
Back in the stands, Franck plays in the percussion section. They act as the base of the band, keeping time and providing the base of the rhythm.
“I feel like I’m the bridge between the percussion section and the wind section of the band because the percussion is separate, not only by distance, but also because they have different opinions and needs from the rest of the band,” Franck said.
Working in tandem, aligning their perspectives, the team of Chau, Franck, and Kolwalkar were able to successfully complete their first draft of the performance near the end of August.
“When we sent our first product to our band director, Jared Tanner, we needed to fix quite a bit to have it ready for the band,” Franck said. “But we were able to work on it and get it done to have the band ready to play.”
They were able to use this feedback and adjust their work accordingly. Throughout the challenges of creating this show, hopes are high for the band’s performance at the homecoming game.
“I think compared to past shows, this is the type of music that people will really recognize and will be able to sing along to which I think is really cool,” Franck said.