Members of Novi High School's Marching Band Attend Camp "In Love and War"

Last week, members of Novi High School’s marching band spent nearly 12 hours a day practicing visuals, music sectionals, and ensemble coordination at band camp to gear up for their upcoming competitive season. 

Camp was held July 29 to Aug. 3 at the high school. Band members also ate lunch and dinner together and participated in team-building activities, such as the senior versus staff basketball game, which was won by the staff once again.

“The main purpose of band camp is for the band to learn as much of its competitive show as possible," Mark Hourigan, director of bands at Novi Hight School, said. "Team building is also a very important aspect of camp.”

This year’s program was titled In Love and War.

“We started with a concept dealing with the aftermath of war. After many brainstorming meetings, the concept evolved into more of a relationship-based, emotional story about soldiers who leave for war, while some return and some don't,” Hourigan said.

While the color guard represented the wives who were left alone, the hornline members symbolized the soldiers who returned. In the program, one guard member's soldier doesn’t come home.

“There's way more to being in band than learning and performing music. Students learn about commitment, hard work, teamwork, and time management.  We spend a great deal of time setting expectations, rehearsal protocol, and goals for the ensemble,” said Hourigan.

In addition to rehearsing on competitive Saturdays, the NHS Marching Band, which is made up of 163 members this year, practices on Mondays and Wednesdays after school for three hours to prepare for upcoming performances.

“The band performs first at a home football game on Sept. 6, and our first competitive event is our home show, Fanfare, on Sept. 21,” Hourigan said.

The NHS Marching Band will hold a bottle drive in September as well.