Pride of Cove band being put through its paces

By BRITTANY FHOLER 
Cove Leader-Presss 

The sounds of the Pride of Cove Marching Band will be heard by residents who live near the high school, if they haven’t already, as the band students commit several hours a day to practicing their marching and prepare for the upcoming Marching season. 
Freshman band members started their training for the 2019-2020 school year on July 29 and 30 with the drum majors and leadership team, before the rest of the band Color Guard joined them that Wednesday, July 31 in the parking lot next to the Lea Ledger Auditorium and Band Hall.
Drum Major Gabriella Gorres, 17, said the whole Band Camp has been a lot of fun. 
“We’ve been doing indoor rehearsals all week. We’ve been doing outdoor rehearsals and you know, this year, we just want to make band fun for them,” Gorres said. “We have a lot of new changes coming, and we just want to make it a positive environment as possible.”
The theme of this year’s show is “On Cloud Nine” and features four musical pieces. The show is broken into three parts, with each part representing a journey from storms to the sun shining and a rainbow coming out, Gorres said. She added that there are props for the show. 
Gorres said she was really excited for people to see the show, especially at the first football game 
Color Guard Co-Captain Brianna Thornton is also a senior and 17-years-old. This year marks her second year as co-captain. 
“I just feel awesome, you know, doing what I do,” Thornton said.  “A lot of new kids come in and it’s really awesome to see them learn. That’s my favorite thing is teaching and being able to see people learn things that I teach them.”
Practice for color guard members started earlier in July and has continued each day as members learn the moves and tosses. To help with tossing the sabres, flags and rifles, they do upper body workouts and stretches every day, Thornton said. 
Last Wednesday, members of the Color Guard put on their sparkly, sequined uniform for a group photo before changing back into work out clothes to join the rest of the band on the blacktop. 
Thornton said she thought the show was a mainly happy show and was looking forward to performing. 
“I’m happy, I’m on a field, it’s 110 degrees, and I’m having fun,” Thornton said. 
Freshman alto saxophone player Bethany Hamilton, 14, wasn’t used to marching prior to this summer. 
“I will say that most of it has been difficult but it’s really great to be here,” Hamilton said. “There’s so much morale here that it makes every bit of it worth it.”
Band members have been learning how to march forwards, backwards and more as they prepare for the marching season. 
With all of the band coming together after two days of just freshmen, Hamilton said it could be a little intimidating, because some members could be better with their instrument and with marching. 
“At the same time, we have our section leaders and our drum majors to correct us if we’re doing wrong, so we just have to come to terms with the fact that nobody’s perfect, and it’s not an easy thing to learn,” she said. 
She described Band Camp as tiring and said going home is the “best thing in the world”, but added that it is “overall just a joy to be here and having all these bonds with these people that you may have never even met before.”
Section Leader Sean Amspascher, 17,  is a senior who plays the tuba. He helps lead other tuba players and said that so far, the freshmen were actually grabbing on and everything was going well. As a section leader, he said that other band students look up to section leaders. 
As a member of the Pride of Cove Marching Band, Amspascher said it is fun. 
“It’s like we’re one big family,” he said. “Even though we have four different bands, everyone’s kind of related, I guess in a sense. It’s really fun to just come out here and march. No one really complains about the heat or anything, and we take plenty of breaks.”
The Pride of Cove Band will be playing during the half-time show at the first Varsity football game of the season on August 30 at 7 p.m. against Burleson High School at Bulldawg Stadium at 425 Williams Street.