On Oct. 3, 2023, the STCE Marching Band performed their annual marching band concert in the stadium under the direction of Gil Wukitsch and Brett Dean.
The program consisted of 11 pieces. This included “Pressure”, “I’m Still Standing”, “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”, “Bad Romance”, “The Edge of Glory”, “Born This Way”, “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”, “I Love Rock ‘N Roll”, “Come on Feel the Noize”, “Party Rock Anthem”, “Hey Baby”, “Saints”, and the school song.
“My favorite part was when we played ‘Party Rock Anthem’ because it’s a song where we get to sing, and I can be loud and obnoxious during it,” said junior Ellie Jahoda. “It’s also just a bop in general.”
The band began by performing their pregame routine in which they marched onto the field and performed the school song and “The Star Spangled Banner”. They then performed their halftime routine to “Pressure” and played the rest of the pieces from their ending spots.
After a few songs, the directors featured the STCE Drumline with a student organized performance. The feature consisted of the cadences “12 Dollars”, “Shock”, and “Jig 2”. During “Jig 2”, the seniors were highlighted by playing their own features.
Senior features continued at the end of the concert in which the senior class lined up in front of the band and were recognized by the directors in light of the closing of the marching band season.
“I am going to miss marching band so much, mostly because of drumline. I met my best friends through drumline and honestly I want it to last forever, even if my back breaks from my drums,” said senior Leanna Swenson. “It actually feels so weird that this part of my life is ending since it takes up so much of my time. I don’t know what I’m going to do without them next year.”
This year, the band welcomed the new executive direction of Wukitsch and Dean. Following the retirement of Jim Kull, the two have taken charge of the marching band with the help of Erik Swenson and Angela Wifler.
“Being under new directors is bittersweet,” said Jahoda. “While I do miss Mr. Kull, it is exciting having Wukitsch and Dean in charge, as they have a lot of new ideas which [are] overall improving the band.”
“The thing I find most impactful was the attitudes of Mr. Wukitsch and Mr. Dean,” said Leanna Swenson. “They both put more effort into making sure we look and sound good on the field, along with the desire to improve our performances.”
“We had a fantastic marching band concert,” said Wukitsch. “Our students have worked to perform at the highest level and adapt to some new techniques we have incorporated in the marching band this year.”
While the band has been receiving less students recently due to declined interest during the pandemic, they’ve been making positive changes to make the best of it. This year has the first step towards that change, and throughout the marching band season, it has shown.
All pieces listed above were composed by the following: Billy Joel, Jay Dawson, Jim Reed, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Matt Conaway, Jack Holt, Stefani Germanotta, Nadir Khayat, Tom Wallace, Tony McCutchen, Fernando Garibay, Paul Blair, Victor Lopez, Jeppe Laursen, Charlie Wilson, Lonnie Simmons, Rudy Taylor, Alan Merril, Jake Hooker, N. Holder, J. Lea, Skyler Gordy,. Stefan Gordy, David Listenbee, Peter Schroeder, Paul Murtha, Will Rapp, Margaret Cobb, and Bruce Channel.
