Our marching Band at Canyon Ridge puts a tremendous amount of effort into their performances and is often overlooked. The CRHS marching band needs more support from the students and from the school to continue to do the incredible things they do. With the simple help from fundraisers and even just support and appreciation from students, the marching band can feel happy and proud of what they do. Because marching band events are not widely known about and there is a general lack of knowledge about what marching band does, it is much harder for students of our school to see what the marching band puts so much effort into.
I am a founding member of the competitive marching band at Canyon Ridge, and the experiences I have had through the marching band have been nothing short of incredible. We provide performances to the public and to our school that are geared toward making the audience feel something. These efforts often go unnoticed and with just an extra boost of support, we can continue to bring our community and students performances for a long time.
Our marching band this semester has competed in two competitions as well as performed at halftime at two home football games. The marching band won first place in their division at a local competition in Burly, which has never been done by our marching band before. Oftentimes when a sport competes at a state level, such as these competitions that involve groups from all over the state, there is some form of sendoff from the drumline and cheerleaders that just doesn’t happen with the marching band. Recognition for the marching band has always been lower since it doesn’t operate the same way as other sports, and I think that needs to change.
Year after year, the marching band improves more and more, but the music education and music programs at Canyon Ridge doesn’t receive that much funding to begin with, let alone money for the marching band specifically. Marching band is a rather expensive sport, and with funding for sports primarily going to the most well known sports, like football and basketball, it causes the marching band to struggle to keep up.
The Canyon Ridge band has had the same uniforms since they were introduced, and it is hard for the marching band and the directors to do some of the things that we want to accomplish, like relationships and team building aspects, without proper funding from the school district and the state. If awareness and support could be increased for the marching band, we can accomplish more and rise to be a truly exceptional sport.
