How would Oak Park High School’s football games feel without our marching band? Marching band is the core of most OPHS games, which makes it even more important to understand how they work.
“We actually have two different sides. We have the pep band that is at the football game riling up the crowd, doing cheers with the cheer team and all of that,” marching band teacher Zachary Borquez said. “Then we have our competition side. We prepare the field show that we started back in band camp.”
While we tend to see the marching band primarily at our football games and rallies, the team’s pep side is actually a relatively minor aspect of practices.
“Practices mostly are geared towards [competitions]. They usually consist of stretches, cardiovascular activities and then we do our fundamentals of marching, which are just different exercises and drills that work on our marching technique,” Borquez said.
This is followed up by practicing a combination of music as well as the formations done by the band during their field show. Eventually, all of this practice comes together for their tournaments.
“We competed against 27 other schools to qualify for championships, and you need to be in the top 12 to qualify, which we did,” Borquez said. “Our school had been to championships prior to this year only twice, and we had scored 11th and 12th respectively.”
According to senior and drum major Navya Sreeraj, all of this hard work has paid off.
“We were able to get eighth place out of 12 at championships this year, which was a highlight,” Sreeraj said.
The overall growth between the band members contributed to a strong team and even stronger friendships. This bond was only strengthened by the members’ shared love for performing.
“I chose marching band because I was interested in music and I loved listening to them when they featured at our middle school,” Sreeraj said. “I’ve met so many different people and I love the way we all come together with a similar interest,”
That interest is shared by new members as well.
“Apart from being a good point for college, I joined marching band because I really just enjoy playing my instrument,” freshman and clarinet player Kai Parsavand said.
Overall, the team has grown tremendously throughout the year from their practices, on-campus performances and their experiences at the competition.
“My experience was amazing and I genuinely love working with all of the people I have met,” Sreeraj said. “I have complete faith that the band will continue to grow, and maybe one day claim first place at championships.”
