After two years of Covid-19, a new director, a lot of recruiting, late nights planning, learning new instruments, and a long summer of starting from scratch, our school’s marching band was finally able to perform their first halftime performance during last week’s football game against Harper Woods. 

While the halftime show was only 5 minutes of time for the audience, to the veteran band members, it was two years’ worth of hard work. Typically, marching bands can have anywhere from 100 to 400 people, but with just under 20, the performance was mostly made of underclassmen and the two remaining seniors. However, adaptability allowed the performance to be a great start to the school year for the members. Junior, Stephen Mihos, stepped into the role as the trumpet soloist for halftime. So, while experiencing his first high school marching show and solo ever, he managed to put out a wonderful performance.

“I was very, very nervous, but I knew I could do it, so I just went up and did it,” he said, If I make a little mistake, then I made a little mistake, but I just kept going because I had a job to fill as the soloist and I just tried my best.”

During a halftime performance, the marching band members are performers doing their best to put on a show. Although, what is missed, is the hours spent together teaching, learning, and becoming like a second family. It’s an amazing community to meet others who love music and perform with people who will become some of your closest friends over the years.

“People should join the marching band because you meet a lot of friends…and it’s really, really fun,” Mihos said, “On the friends’ side, I never knew [my friend] Jason until marching band.”

Since 2019, the marching band has only been practicing stand tunes and short snippets of music to play from the stands. This halftime show, while small, starts an exciting new journey for the underclassmen who will continue with the program while at WB and future students who will begin their time in this band. 

What does this mean for the WBHS marching band?

It means that the program still has a long way to go from 20 people, but it’s a starting point. Currently, the marching band will be performing at all future halftime shows for the 2022 season and this Saturday, they will be performing at the University of Toledo’s band day. Here, they will perform at the university football game during halftime alongside the collegiate marching band and hundreds of other high school band members.

If you are interested in learning more about WB’s marching band, reach out through their Instagram page (wbhs_marching). Finally, to sum up the night in a few words from Stephen Mihos.

“Everything went great.”