Russell High School marching band scores 2 awards
Sep. 26—RUSSELL — Musicians at Russell High School are two for two: The marching band won a pair of awards at competitions this month.
Russell High School Marching Band earned the title of Grand Champion at A Knight at the Roundtable annual competition on Sept. 16, sponsored by Cabell Midland Band Boosters of the Marching Knights.
Director Levi Dalton said about 30 other bands competed at the Ona venue.
Russell's 58-member band competed at West Portsmouth High School the following weekend, winning top prize again.
Not only does the band work to learn the music and execute the moves, but instructors work well ahead to plan the show's every detail.
"We start planning from the beginning of January, with design meetings," Dalton said. "It's a really long process. We also get custom-made uniforms and music arrangements."
Working with him on the project were assistant band director Abigail Purdon and color guard instructor Wesley Moore, but the show was the brainchild of former director Brent Hunt, who now is band director at Tates Creek High School in Lexington.
The music is a custom arrangement using four songs: Movement Two from Symphony 10 by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich; "Gran Torino" from the movie "Gran Torino;" "Shut Up and Drive" by Rihanna; and "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen.
Bands are scored on the music, general affect, which Dalton said can mean anything, and visuals; the color guard and percussion have separate judges.
Dalton said their show is visually different.
"It throws people when they see a marching band not in uniform," he said. "Generally, we don't wear school uniforms, because we have custom uniforms (for the show). It's called 'Drive' and the music and visual aspect are like a race, so we have lots of reds, yellows and greens and checkered flags. We use a lot more electronics, like micing and synthesizers, so I think of it as more of a short Broadway show that you have to get set up."
The work gets credit for the win, Dalton said.
"It was all the practice for the last three weeks," he said of why he believes his band performed so well in competition. "All the practices have just been really good, and they've exponentially gotten better every practice. I tell them there's nothing special about (the competitions) that make it special, that there's no magic sauce. It just comes down to how you practice and rehearse."
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