Photo by Sandi Aguilar No instruments are evident – yet – for members of the Ruidoso High School band as they prepare for the fall season, practicing marching formations in the parking lot at RHS.
“We are teaching the freshman the fundamentals and how to march,” said RHS Band Director Gary Shaver.
Approximately 10 freshmen will be joining the 35-member band. Shaver finds using the upper classman as teachers is the best way to get the students to develop a team while also re-teaching themselves. The practices will entail marching techniques as well as the first set of music.
The students play their first pieces, the Star Spangled Banner and the RHS fight song, at next Monday’s staff meeting welcoming all of the teachers to the new school year.
“The field show this year is Avatar and we will be playing music from the movie and also having costumes to match,” says Drum Major Kaylee Aguilar, who stopped only for a moment from her continuous beat and direction.
The band performs at football games, as well as march in local parades and compete at various band contests throughout the state. The most prestigious of those competitions is the Pageant of Bands held in Albuquerque. A clinic is held after the AspenFest parade for all area bands to prepare for this pageant.
This year the band, which also consists of the nine-member color guard (also practicing this week), is planning a trip to Disneyland. While a much-earned reward, the trip will provide for another opportunity to play against other bands from across the nation. In 2008 – the last time Ruidoso High School took the trip to Disneyland – they won the “Silver First” award. Several more fundraisers are planned this year to help cover the cost.
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