By Crystal Hayduk
Slideshow by Burrill Strong (top of story), slideshow by Alan Ashley (bottom of story)
Time marches on, and so does the Chelsea High School (CHS) band.
With the district’s first home football game less than three weeks away, the 140-member band has been drilling new formations and practicing new music during band camp, held at CHS from July 30 through Aug. 3.
Senior and returning drum major Lisa Kaiser expertly multitasks, calling commands during drills while discussing the fall’s musical lineup. “This year is exciting because the music is more challenging than usual – and we’re learning five new songs instead of four,” she says.
Students are ecstatic with this year’s Earth, Wind and Fire theme. The full playlist includes “Drum Song” (1974), “September” (1978), “Boogie Wonderland” (1979), “After the Love is Gone” (1979), and “Let’s Groove” (1981).
Junior Kara Feldkamp, in her first year as drum major, sits on the sidelines programming the metronome as it broadcasts regular clicks through the sound system during the drills. With a watchful eye on the students as she makes changes to the tempo as ordered by George Schrader, the drill writer, she declares the current freshmen group to be “doing well.”
Feldkamp explains that members of a marching band must learn how to increase stability as they move around the field, while also preventing the shock of marching from affecting the sound of the instruments.
Schrader, a former student of CHS Band Director Rick Catherman’s, has assisted with band camp week for 13 years. According to Catherman, Schrader is a music arranger and drill writer, currently pursuing a doctorate degree in wind conducting at the University of Oklahoma. “We’re very privileged to be able to hire him at this busy time of year,” says Catherman.
Percussionists receive direction from Daniel McDonald, a percussion music arranger, assisted by Olivia Catherman, a 2016 CHS graduate.
Clarinet section leaders Erin McDonnell and Madalyn Davis, both seniors, find band camp to be one of the highlights of the season. McDonnell enjoys “section pride days. On Monday, each section wears a different color. Tuesday is Christmas in July, Wednesday is Beach Day, Thursday’s sectional theme is chosen on Wednesday, and Friday is Blue and Gold Day.”
Davis says band camp permits the upperclassmen to build relationships with incoming freshmen as they teach them marching band fundamentals.
Seniors Gretchen Kuras and Remy Sturt are the flute section leaders. The two agree that the ninth-grade students seem well-prepared for the rigors of high school marching band. “They have positive attitudes and are willing to learn,” says Kuras.
The mild weather is one universally positive element about this year’s band camp. High temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s beat the scorching heat that often accompanies band camp. “I wish I could control the weather,” says Catherman, “but I can’t.”
Nic Brough, a senior in his first year as drum major, says that band camp is an intense week of learning the drills and the music, but the band will continue to “clean up the performance” during future rehearsals.
“Come watch us on Friday nights this fall,” he says.
Mark your calendars for these special upcoming marching band events:
Aug. 24 – First home football game vs. Dexter High School – 7 p.m. at Jerry Niehaus Field.
Aug. 25 – Chelsea Fair Parade – 1 p.m. (Route: west on E. Middle St. starting at S. East St. to south on Main St. to west on Old U.S. 12 ending at Old Manchester Rd.)
Sept. 21 – Homecoming game vs. Jackson High School – 7 p.m. at Jerry Niehaus Field.
Sept. 26 – Marching Band Exhibition – Gates open at 4 p.m. at Jerry Niehaus Field.
Of note and with thanks:
This fall, the new voice of the Chelsea High School Marching Band will be Beach Middle School teacher Alex Stacy. (Stacy replaces Bill Crane, who has retired.) Band Director Catherman says that Stacy, a 2007 CHS graduate, was a drum major in 2006, the first time the band played the music of Earth, Wind and Fire.
Kelly Bertoni is a returning band camp staff person, teaching clarinet and assisting with drills. The 2016 CHS graduate will be the University of Michigan’s “Woman Up Front” this fall. (Related story here: https://chelseaupdate.com/introducing-in-her-first-year-as-the-woman-up-front-from-chelsea-mich-kelly-bertoni/.)
Catherman says band camp would not be possible, nor would the band program be successful, without the support of many individuals.
“We are fortunate and grateful to have such generous parent volunteers,” he says.
When you see these team leaders around town, give them a word of thanks for their service: Cynthia Silveri – uniform coordinator, Melissa Struk – Thursday evening dinner coordinator, and Marion Hoyer – Friday morning breakfast coordinator.
