Company at last: Colony no longer the only marching band in the state

PALMER — Some 106 Colony Knights and 23 Houston Hawks performed at the Colony High School Marching Band Invitational at Colony’s football field Friday. Until Houston High School started up, Colony had been the only marching band in the state for more than a decade. According to many, the spirit united students for the love of music, the fruit of their toil and the friendships made along the way.

“It’s really impressive to see the leadership and the skill of the upperclassmen and the roles they’ve taken on to mentor and teach the younger people...kinda get them up to speed. And, they’ve really become a fantastic band,” said Colony music teacher and band instructor Jamin L. Burton.

Burton said that his band began practicing in January and since then, has put in more than 225 hours into preparation for its big invitational event, and its even bigger march at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The band is comprised of students from freshman to seniors and even includes some alumni. The alumni were not present for the invitational, but will join the students when they perform at the Macy’s parade.

There are two parts to Macy’s parade. The first is the Line Of March parade, which starts on Central Park West and operates like any other conventional parade. The second is the Made-for-TV Parade that is just one block of space designated for broadcast. The sections of the parade are remixed and shown on TV, with the iconic floats and other imagery Americans have grown accustomed to seeing every Thanksgiving. The Colony Marching Band has to prepare two different sets for each march. In addition to that, the band runs their field shows for football games and other local performances; so everyone has been practicing three different sets since January.

“We’re blending aspects of marching military moves, ballet, modern dance, hip-hop, and music (popular selections from the radio) — all at the same time. There’s lots of visuals, lots of choreography, high energy music, great dynamics, some powerful moments, music that would be entertaining for a big crowd,” Burton said.

Burton said he thinks the lack of competition in Alaska has been the biggest challenge for his band. He said that competing formally isn’t necessarily the “end all, be all,” but seeing other high-level bands perform inspires them to play better. He noted that in spite of going in without rivals, the band has made tremendous progress and reached an impressive level of skill and finesse. He said this his student’s are always bettering themselves, doing their best, without having to compare their routines to other bands.

“I think the fact that we’ve progressed as far as we have is really remarkable,” Burton said. “They have really bought in to creating a culture where you’re not trying to beat your across town rival, you’re trying to beat yourself.”

Samantha Youmans is a former Colony High student. She was a freshman when Burton started working at Colony. Until he arrived, there was no marching band. Once he created it, Youmans caught the marching fever and quickly rose to drum major. Drum majors are the leaders of a marching band.

“They’re really the go-to people to kinda’ take some of the workload off me and inspire the students to work together,” Burton said.

Burton inspired Youmans from the start. Now, she is the music teacher at Houston High School and the creator of their first marching band, granting Alaska two marching bands on the circuit.

“He’s great. He’s the reason I do what I do,” Youmans said.

Burton said he’s always been in love with marching band since he was a student. He said every music teacher should have some sort of background in marching band. One of the major perks to being in marching band is the scholarship opportunity. Another big perk, Burton said, is the development.

“Even for the kids who aren’t going into music or music education, marching band activates your brain in ways that anything else does. You’re using your physical (kinesthetic), spatial, music, artistic, creative, logical reasoning — all at the same time. So it’s good for your brain development and just good for people just to experience that. I can’t think of a single activity that uses all the different parts of your brain simultaneously like marching band does,” Burton said.

Burton said that across the world, many people in leadership positions, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and so on, can trace back to their common experiences: marching band. He said that the highest levels of undergraduates that are accepted into graduate school are music majors.

Rheannon Williams is captain of the color guard. She joined marching band as a freshman after her sister convinced her it was a good idea. She said it sounded fun because she’s always been a “huge music nerd.” She started out in the “pit,” the front-and-center, stationary percussion ensemble. She saw what her sister and other waving around in the color guard and “instantly fell in love.”

“We are the icing of the cake that is marching band,” Williams said. “It’s a little bit of everything. We add shape and step to the band. We’re swish, swish, fwoop, toss, catch.”

The color guards are the ones who wave an assortment of flags and cavort around the field, performing various tricks and athletic feats. Williams said they have names for the techniques but in the middle of routines, they use lingo like “fwoop” and “swish” to streamline the process: “quick do the double fwip, followed by the fwoop; it’s just easier that way.”

In her sophomore year, she switched to the color guard. Now, as a senior, she is the captain of the color guard with a lot of responsibilities, in band and at home. This is her first year in a leadership position, so she is adapting her teaching to the newer, younger members, learning how to be a role model to them. Her older sister has graduated so she is the oldest of three other siblings in the household. Outside of band, Williams isn’t done taking care of others. Her mother has Multiple Scleroris and has been in a wheelchair for over decade.

“My mom is disabled and I’m her main caretaker pretty much,” Williams said. “So that means it’s really hard when I’m not getting home until late in the evening and I still have to do homework and I have to take care of my mom as well. It’s been a struggle to balance all of my responsibilities and my time to be this leader that my girls look up to and also to have to be a leader at home.”

Williams said this is what she likes to do so it’s worth the effort. She said her family has also stepped up to help look after her mom. Her father, grandmother and siblings help her since they know how important marching band is to her. Her mother is really happy with what she does, saying “Go Rheannon, do the flaggy thing.” She said that her band mates are her other family.

“I’m really proud of how far we’ve come,” Williams said.

The Houston High School Marching Band opened the invitational. According to Youmans, the band only had 22 hours to prepare for the event, all during regular class hours. When they performed, all of the Colony students roared with excitement. They held up signs for the other school, saying things like, “Go Hawks!”

When Colony did its routines, the Houston students returned the favor with gusto. They held up their own signs and cheered them on. Several members of the audience were very impressed with the skill showcased that day. One audience member muttered to his wife, “if I didn’t know ahead of time, I would have thought these kids were at college level.”

Youmans said that her students were inspired by Colony. School rivalry was not an issue. In fact, through the course of the evening, the opposite was true. All of the students from both sides were happy to see each other, sharing hugs, cheering each other on and saying things like “text me later.”

President of the Colony High School’s Booster Club, Jackie Johnson said that “of course” these students get along with each other —“they’re band kids.”

“That’s band in a nutshell,” Youmans said. “No matter who you are, where you come from, if you play an instrument, you’re part of the family.”

One parent, Creighton Terry came to congratulate all of the kids, Burton and Youmans and to thank them. Terry was in marching band when he was in school. He said the show brought a tear to his eye.

“I was thrilled and enthralled,” Terry said.

Growing up, one Burton’s mentors told him, “you never really know how successful your marching band season was until you see the students graduate and what they do with it.”

After the event, Colony and Houston students all celebrated with pancakes at Burton’s home.

“Pancakes,” one student said as they left. “It’s a marching band thing.”